ska
How ska is used
Ska is the present tense of skola and the everyday way to talk about plans and intentions: jag ska åka hem, “I'm going to go home”. It also expresses obligation or advice (du ska ta det lugnt) and appears in suggestions (ska vi gå?).
ska as a verb
Meaning
will, be going to, (except not formal in tone, but a literal match for meaning) shall, is to; (in the past tense "skulle") were to; was to (Usually not sensible translations, but will provide the right intuition in some tricky cases – see below.)
In Swedish: komma att
Conjugation
| Infinitive | att ska | to will |
|---|---|---|
| Present | ska | jag ska |
| Past | skulle | jag skulle |
| Supine | skolat | used after har / hade |
| Perfect | har skolat | jag har skolat |
| Past perfect | hade skolat | jag hade skolat |
Group 4: strong and irregular verbs. Strong verbs change their vowel and have a supine in -it (skriva, skrev, skrivit); irregular ones such as göra and ha follow no pattern. Both have to be learned one by one. Swedish verbs don't change for person: jag, du, hon, vi and de all use ska. See the four verb groups explained.
ska as a noun
Meaning
ska; a style of dance music
Practise ska
1 / 2Yesterday I … (ska). Which is the past tense?
ska in a sentence
- Vad ska du göra i helgen?What are you doing at the weekend?
- Ska vi gå?Shall we go?
- Du ska inte oroa dig.You shouldn't worry.
- huset ska rivasthe building is going to be pulled down
- du ska komma i tidyou must come on time
- Imorgon ska vi mata tigrarTomorrow we are going to [tomorrow we shall] feed tigers
- Jag ska göra det imorgon. Jag lovar!I will [shall] do it tomorrow. I promise!
- Nej, du ska göra det idag!No, you will [shall] do it today!
- Nu räcker det. Monstret ska dö!That's enough. The monster will [shall] die!
- Det här ska du få sota för!You will [shall] pay for this! [with an idiomatic expression]
Questions
What does ska mean in English?
ska means “will, be going to, (except not formal in tone, but a literal match for meaning) shall, is to; (in the past tense "skulle") were to; was to (Usually not sensible translations, but will provide the right intuition in some tricky cases – see below.)”.
What is the past tense of ska?
The past tense of ska is skulle (“jag skulle”). The supine is skolat, used in “jag har skolat”.
What is the present tense of ska?
ska, the same for every person: jag ska, du ska, vi ska.
Similar words
Where the course teaches it
- Talking about the future with skaComplete Swedish – Season 1
- Swedish vocabulary for home, world, workComplete Swedish – Season 1
- Vart versus var: two words for whereComplete Swedish – Season 1
- Swedish present, past and future reviewComplete Swedish – Season 1
- The future with kommer att in SwedishComplete Swedish – Season 1
- The Swedish pronoun man for general statementsComplete Swedish – Season 1
Origin
Borrowed from English ska.
Nearby common words
ska is number 31 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.
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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