Swedish verb · noun· top 2,000 most common

bete

to behave (oneself)/ˈbeːˌtɛ/

bete as a verb

Meaning

to behave (oneself)

Conjugation

Conjugation of bete (behave)
Infinitive	att bete	to behave
Present	beter	jag beter
Past	betedde	jag betedde
Supine	betett	used after har / hade
Perfect	har betett	jag har betett
Past perfect	hade betett	jag hade betett
Future	ska bete	or: kommer att bete
Conditional	skulle bete	jag skulle bete
Imperative	bete!	a command
Present participle	beteende	-ing, used as an adjective

Passive (-s form)

Passive of bete
Infinitive	betes
Present	bets
Past	beteddes
Supine	betetts

Group 3: short verbs. The infinitive does not end in -a; present -r, past -dde, supine -tt. Swedish verbs don't change for person: jag, du, hon, vi and de all use beter. See the four verb groups explained.

bete as a noun(ett bete)

Meaning

bait; pasture; pasturage; tusk

In Swedish: agn, medel att locka djur i fälla

Forms

Forms of bete
Singular, indefinite	ett bete
Singular, definite	betet
Plural, indefinite	beten
Plural, definite	betena

bete is an ett-word, so adjectives agree with it: ett stort bete, det stora betet. Check another noun

Practise bete

1 / 2

Yesterday I … (bete). Which is the past tense?

bete in a sentence

Hon kan inte bete sig
She can't behave
Han beter sig väl
He's behaving well
Hon betedde sig konstigt
She was acting strange
släppa korna på bete
turn the cows out to pasture
en råttfälla med ost som bete
a mousetrap with cheese as bait
att använda en mask som bete
to use a worm as bait
släppa ut kor på bete
put cows out to pasture [on grazing – idiomatic]
Elefanter och valrossar har betar
Elephants and walruses have tusks
Narvalens horn är en tand, eller bete
A [the] narwhal's horn is a tooth, or tusk

Words built with bete

betesmark pasture land

Questions

What does bete mean in English?

bete means “to behave (oneself)”.

Is it en bete or ett bete?

It is ett bete, and “the bait” is betet.

What is the plural of bete?

The plural of bete is beten, and the definite plural is betena.

What is the past tense of bete?

The past tense of bete is betedde (“jag betedde”). The supine is betett, used in “jag har betett”.

What is the present tense of bete?

beter, the same for every person: jag beter, du beter, vi beter.

Similar words

agn

Origin

From Old Norse beita (“food, bait”).

Nearby common words

bete is number 1,244 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.

1,240bråka kick up a fuss, fight
1,241tillåta allow
1,242hot threat, menace
1,243ångra regret, undo
1,245klänning dress
1,246besök visit, stay
1,247varken neither
1,248bredvid adjacent to, beside

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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