Swedish verb· top 5,000 most common

spänna

tense, draw, buckle, fasten/spɛnːa/

Meaning

tense; draw; buckle; fasten

In Swedish: sträcka med kraft

Conjugation

Conjugation of spänna (tense)
Infinitive	att spänna	to tense
Present	spänner	jag spänner
Past	spände	jag spände
Supine	spänt	used after har / hade
Perfect	har spänt	jag har spänt
Past perfect	hade spänt	jag hade spänt
Future	ska spänna	or: kommer att spänna
Conditional	skulle spänna	jag skulle spänna
Imperative	spänn!	a command
Present participle	spännande	-ing, used as an adjective
Past participle	spänd	used like an adjective, and agrees like one

Passive (-s form)

Passive of spänna
Infinitive	spännas
Present	spänns
Past	spändes
Supine	spänts

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 spänner. See the four verb groups explained.

Practise spänna

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

spänna in a sentence

spänna musklerna
tense one's muscles
spänna upp ett rep
stretch a rope
spänna bågen
draw a bow
spänna fast packningen på biltaket
strap the luggage on to the car roof
spänna på sig skidorna
put on skis
Han spände sina stora muskler
He flexed his big muscles
spänna öronen
to cock one's ears
Det är skönare lyss till en sträng, som brast, än att aldrig spänna en båge
It is nobler to hear a string, that snapped, than never to pull a bow

Questions

What does spänna mean in English?

spänna means “tense, draw”.

What is the past tense of spänna?

The past tense of spänna is spände (“jag spände”). The supine is spänt, used in “jag har spänt”.

What is the present tense of spänna?

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

Similar words

dra åtknäppa fast

Origin

From Old Swedish spänna, from Old Norse spenna, from Proto-Germanic *spannijaną, causative of *spannaną (“to stretch, to span”).

Nearby common words

spänna is number 4,789 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.

4,785husvagn a caravan, a camper, a trailer (used as a dwelling, towed behind another vehicle)
4,786frö germ, seed
4,787utkämpa fight out
4,788ökänd notorious
4,790konstant constant
4,791skelett skeleton, framework
4,792laddning charge
4,793trygghet security, safety

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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