Swedish verb· top 1,000 most common

bruka

be in the habit of, use to, cultivate, till/²brʉːka/

Meaning

be in the habit of; use to; cultivate; till; farm

In Swedish: ha som vana att

Conjugation

Conjugation of bruka (be in the habit of)
Infinitive	att bruka	to be in the habit of
Present	brukar	jag brukar
Past	brukade	jag brukade
Supine	brukat	used after har / hade
Perfect	har brukat	jag har brukat
Past perfect	hade brukat	jag hade brukat
Future	ska bruka	or: kommer att bruka
Conditional	skulle bruka	jag skulle bruka
Imperative	bruka!	a command
Present participle	brukande	-ing, used as an adjective
Past participle	brukad	used like an adjective, and agrees like one

Passive (-s form)

Passive of bruka
Infinitive	brukas
Present	brukas
Past	brukades
Supine	brukats

Group 1: -ar verbs. Present -ar, past -ade, supine -at. The largest and most regular group. Swedish verbs don't change for person: jag, du, hon, vi and de all use brukar. See the four verb groups explained.

Practise bruka

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

bruka in a sentence

hon brukade aldrig slåss annars
she never used to get into fights otherwise
han brukade fädernegården i många år
he kept the family farm going for many years
Han brukade segla runt sjön på somrarna
He used to sail around the lake in the summer
Han brukar äta majs
He often / regularly eats corn
Hon brukar beställa en hamburgare när hon besöker restaurangen
She usually orders a hamburger when she visits the restaurant [like "She used to order a hamburger when she visited the restaurant, " but in the present tense]
Det brukar regna på midsommar
It usually rains on Midsummer
verktyg som brukas för att forma trä
tools used [that are used] to shape wood
ett verktyg som kan brukas som vapen
a tool that can be used as a weapon

Questions

What does bruka mean in English?

bruka means “be in the habit of, use to”.

What is the past tense of bruka?

The past tense of bruka is brukade (“jag brukade”). The supine is brukat, used in “jag har brukat”.

What is the present tense of bruka?

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

Similar words

nyttja

Where the course teaches it

Origin

From Middle Low German bruken, from Old Saxon brukan.

Nearby common words

bruka is number 550 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.

546köra drive, drive (away)
547tidigare earlier, previously
548telefon telephone
549affär shop, store
551fint trick, feint
552förut before
554gälla pertain to, apply, concern, be valid, be in effect
555kapten captain, lieutenant

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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