Swedish verb · interjection· top 2,000 most common

orka

have the energy to, be able to/ˈɔrˌka/

How orka is used

Orka means to have the energy or strength to do something. It is one of the most useful everyday verbs, and in speech it is very often negative: jag orkar inte means “I can't be bothered” or “I don't have the energy”. On its own, “Orka!” is a teenage way of saying “no way, too much effort”.

orka as a verb

Meaning

have the energy to; be able to

In Swedish: ha krafter (till), kunna, förmå

Conjugation

Conjugation of orka (have the energy to)
Infinitive	att orka	to have the energy to
Present	orkar	jag orkar
Past	orkade	jag orkade
Supine	orkat	used after har / hade
Perfect	har orkat	jag har orkat
Past perfect	hade orkat	jag hade orkat
Future	ska orka	or: kommer att orka
Conditional	skulle orka	jag skulle orka
Imperative	orka!	a command
Present participle	orkande	-ing, used as an adjective

Passive (-s form)

Passive of orka
Infinitive	orkas
Present	orkas
Past	orkades
Supine	orkats

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 orkar. See the four verb groups explained.

orka as an interjection

Meaning

Expresses unwillingness to do or deal with something (taxing).

Practise orka

1 / 2

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

orka in a sentence

Jag orkar inte laga mat i kväll.
I can't face cooking tonight.
Orkar du bära den?
Can you manage to carry it?
Jag orkade springa hela vägen.
I managed to run the whole way.
jag orkar inte bära väskan längre
I cannot carry the bag any longer
jag orkar inte med att jobba övertid
I'm not up to overtime
Han orkade inte springa hela vägen
He didn't have enough stamina to run all the way (and had to stop running)
Orkar han?
Can he do it? ("Does he have enough strength/will/stamina (depending on context) to do it?")
Hon sprang allt vad hon orkade
She ran as fast as she could ("all she had enough strength/will/stamina to")
Jag orkar inte bry mig om det idag
I can't be bothered ("don't have enough strength/will/stamina") to care about that today
Orkar du en till pannkaka?
Do you have room for another pancake? ("Do you have enough strength/will/stamina for another pancake?")

Questions

What does orka mean in English?

orka means “have the energy to, be able to”.

What is the past tense of orka?

The past tense of orka is orkade (“jag orkade”). The supine is orkat, used in “jag har orkat”.

What is the present tense of orka?

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

Similar words

palla

Origin

From Old Swedish orka, from Old Norse orka, from Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (English work), from Proto-Indo-European *wṛǵ-·.

Nearby common words

orka is number 1,526 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.

1,522rita draw, design
1,523prins prince
1,524kod code
1,525bett asked; requested; begged; prayed
1,527låst locked
1,528beställa book, reserve
1,529saknad missing (not able to be located)
1,530ordentligt appropriate, properly

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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