Swedish verb · noun· top 5,000 most common

skärpa

sharpen, make more stringent, intensify, tighten up/²ɧærpa/

skärpa as a verb

Meaning

sharpen; make more stringent; intensify; tighten up

In Swedish: göra skarp

Conjugation

Conjugation of skärpa (sharpen)
Infinitive	att skärpa	to sharpen
Present	skärper	jag skärper
Past	skärpte	jag skärpte
Supine	skärpt	used after har / hade
Perfect	har skärpt	jag har skärpt
Past perfect	hade skärpt	jag hade skärpt
Future	ska skärpa	or: kommer att skärpa
Conditional	skulle skärpa	jag skulle skärpa
Imperative	skärp!	a command
Present participle	skärpande	-ing, used as an adjective
Past participle	skärpt	used like an adjective, and agrees like one

Passive (-s form)

Passive of skärpa
Infinitive	skärpas
Present	skärps
Past	skärptes
Supine	skärpts

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 skärper. See the four verb groups explained.

skärpa as a noun(en skärpa)

Meaning

sharpness; clarity; lucidity; acuity; stringency

In Swedish: skarphet, vasshet

Forms

Forms of skärpa
Singular, indefinite	en skärpa
Singular, definite	skärpan
Plural, indefinite	skärpor
Plural, definite	skärporna

skärpa is an en-word, so adjectives agree with it: en stor skärpa, den stora skärpan. Check another noun

Practise skärpa

1 / 2

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

skärpa in a sentence

analysen behöver skärpas en del
the analysis needs sharpening up a bit
skärpa knivar
sharpen knives
skärpt bevakning
closer surveillance
regeringen skärper tonen
the government is sharpening its tone
Säkerhetskontrollen vid flygplatserna har skärpts ytterligare.
The security checks at the airports have been further tightened.
kniven hade förlorat sin skärpa
the knife had lost its edge
med skärpa i rösten
with a sharp edge to his voice

Words built with skärpa

tankeskärpa mental acumen
synskärpa visual acuity

Questions

What does skärpa mean in English?

skärpa means “sharpen, make more stringent”.

Is it en skärpa or ett skärpa?

It is en skärpa, and “the sharpness” is skärpan.

What is the plural of skärpa?

The plural of skärpa is skärpor, and the definite plural is skärporna.

What is the past tense of skärpa?

The past tense of skärpa is skärpte (“jag skärpte”). The supine is skärpt, used in “jag har skärpt”.

What is the present tense of skärpa?

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

Origin

From Old Swedish skærpa, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz (literally “cutting”).

Nearby common words

skärpa is number 3,926 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.

3,922kidnappade kidnapped
3,923högkvarter headquarters
3,924smörja grease; smear, daub; lubricate
3,925fingra finger
3,927ballong balloon
3,928småningom gradually, by degrees
3,929rimligt reasonable
3,930konversation conversation

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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