Swedish verb· top 1,000 most common

köra

drive, drive (away)/²ɕœ̞ːra/

Meaning

drive; drive (away)

In Swedish: framföra (ett fordon)

Conjugation

Conjugation of köra (drive)
Infinitive	att köra	to drive
Present	kör	jag kör
Past	körde	jag körde
Supine	kört	used after har / hade
Perfect	har kört	jag har kört
Past perfect	hade kört	jag hade kört
Future	ska köra	or: kommer att köra
Conditional	skulle köra	jag skulle köra
Imperative	kör!	a command
Present participle	körande	-ing, used as an adjective
Past participle	körd	used like an adjective, and agrees like one

Passive (-s form)

Passive of köra
Infinitive	köras
Present	körs
Past	kördes
Supine	körts

Group 2: -er verbs. Present -er, past -de or -te (after a voiceless consonant), supine -t. Swedish verbs don't change for person: jag, du, hon, vi and de all use kör. See the four verb groups explained.

Practise köra

1 / 2

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

köra in a sentence

Vill du köra mig till stationen?
Would you drive me to the station?
köra bil
drive a car
han körde bort åskådarna som samlats
he drove off the onlookers who had gathered
Man kör bilar och båtar och pansarvagnar
You drive cars and boats and tanks
Vi har kört i fem timmar
We've been driving for five hours
Bilen körde mot oss
The car drove towards us
Jag råkade köra över en katt
I accidentally ran [drove] over a cat
köra på någon
hit someone with a vehicle

Expressions

köra med
go on (about)
köra om
overtake
köra upp
take a driving test

Questions

What does köra mean in English?

köra means “drive, drive (away)”.

What is the past tense of köra?

The past tense of köra is körde (“jag körde”). The supine is kört, used in “jag har kört”.

What is the present tense of köra?

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

Similar words

ratta

Origin

From Old Swedish kø̄ra, from Old Norse keyra (“to drive, fling, toss”), from Proto-Germanic *kaurijaną, *karjaną (“to turn, sweep”).

Nearby common words

köra is number 546 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.

542land land, country
543sälja sell
544klockan the watch, the clock
545bila travel (go) by car
547tidigare earlier, previously
548telefon telephone
549affär shop, store
550bruka be in the habit of, use to

Start today, free

Learn köra in real Swedish, free

Words stick when you hear them used. Complete Swedish Season 1 is 49 short video lessons with a synced transcript, free on the site with no account. A free account saves words like köra to your library and quizzes you on them, plus 7 days of the AI tutor and speaking practice when you confirm your email.

Season 1 free in full: 49 lessons
Synced transcript with English translations
7-day free trial of the AI tutor and speaking practice
Members get the latest season and every new course

Watch lesson 1 free Create a free account

Sources: Folkets lexikon (CC BY-SA 2.5) and Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), edited by Lingolib. Recording: Wikimedia Commons. Browse the dictionary