Swedish verb· top 1,000 most common

sakna

miss, lack, be without, be wanting (deficient)/sɑːkna/

Meaning

miss; lack; be without; be wanting (deficient)

In Swedish: vara utan, inte ha

Conjugation

Conjugation of sakna (miss)
Infinitiveatt saknato miss
Presentsaknarjag saknar
Pastsaknadejag saknade
Supinesaknatused after har / hade
Perfecthar saknatjag har saknat
Past perfecthade saknatjag hade saknat
Futureska saknaor: kommer att sakna
Conditionalskulle saknajag skulle sakna
Imperativesakna!a command
Present participlesaknande-ing, used as an adjective
Past participlesaknadused like an adjective, and agrees like one

Passive (-s form)

Passive of sakna
Infinitivesaknas
Presentsaknas
Pastsaknades
Supinesaknats

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 saknar. See the four verb groups explained.

Practise sakna

1 / 2

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

sakna in a sentence

  • checken saknar täckning
    the cheque is uncovered
  • jag saknar honom hela tiden
    I miss him constantly
  • Jag saknar dig.
    I miss you.
  • Cykeln saknar ett hjul.
    The bicycle lacks a wheel.

Expressions

  • jag saknar ord!
    words fail me!

Questions

What does sakna mean in English?

sakna means “miss, lack”.

What is the past tense of sakna?

The past tense of sakna is saknade (“jag saknade”). The supine is saknat, used in “jag har saknat”.

What is the present tense of sakna?

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

Where the course teaches it

Origin

From Old Swedish sakna, from Old Norse sakna (“miss”).

Nearby common words

sakna is number 509 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.

  • 505egen own, odd, peculiar, strange
  • 506lång long, tall
  • 507leva live, be noisy
  • 508dessa these
  • 510skydda preserve, protect
  • 511fixa arrange, fix
  • 512viss certain
  • 513val election, choice
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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