äta
Meaning
eat
In Swedish: tugga och svälja (mat); inta (måltid)
Conjugation
| Infinitive | att äta | to eat |
|---|---|---|
| Present | äter | jag äter |
| Past | åt | jag åt |
| Supine | ätit | used after har / hade |
| Perfect | har ätit | jag har ätit |
| Past perfect | hade ätit | jag hade ätit |
| Future | ska äta | or: kommer att äta |
| Conditional | skulle äta | jag skulle äta |
| Imperative | ät! | a command |
| Present participle | ätande | -ing, used as an adjective |
| Past participle | äten | used like an adjective, and agrees like one |
Passive (-s form)
| Infinitive | ätas |
|---|---|
| Present | äts |
| Past | åts |
| Supine | ätits |
Group 4: strong and irregular verbs. Strong verbs change their vowel and have a supine in -it (skriva, skrev, skrivit); irregular ones such as göra and ha follow no pattern. Both have to be learned one by one. Swedish verbs don't change for person: jag, du, hon, vi and de all use äter. See the four verb groups explained.
Practise äta
1 / 2Yesterday I … (äta). Which is the past tense?
äta in a sentence
- Jag vill äta nu.I want to eat now.
- Vi äter frukost klockan sju.We eat breakfast at seven.
- När de kommer hem brukar de äta middag tillsammans.When they get home, they usually eat dinner together.
- När äter vi?When do we eat?
- Ät upp maten!Eat up your food!
- äta frukosteat (have) breakfast
- äta en smörgåseat a sandwich
- Jag älskar att äta godisI love eating [to eat] candy
- Vad ska vi äta till middag?What should we have [eat] for dinner?
- Vi åt på en restaurangWe ate at a restaurant
Questions
What does äta mean in English?
äta means “eat”.
What is the past tense of äta?
The past tense of äta is åt (“jag åt”). The supine is ätit, used in “jag har ätit”.
What is the present tense of äta?
äter, the same for every person: jag äter, du äter, vi äter.
Similar words
Where the course teaches it
- Swedish verbs for eat, want and canComplete Swedish – Season 1
- Swedish words ending in -itetComplete Swedish – Season 1
- Det versus den in SwedishComplete Swedish – Season 1
- Swedish words for now, today, tomorrowComplete Swedish – Season 1
- Talking about the future with skaComplete Swedish – Season 1
- Polite requests in Swedish with skulleComplete Swedish – Season 1
Origin
From Old Swedish æta, from Old Norse eta, from Proto-Germanic *etaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed-.
Nearby common words
äta is number 237 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.
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Sources: Folkets lexikon (CC BY-SA 2.5) and Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), edited by Lingolib. Recording: Wikimedia Commons. Browse the dictionary