Swedish verb· top 500 most common

spela

play/²speːla/

Meaning

play

In Swedish: ägna sig åt spel

Conjugation

Conjugation of spela (play)
Infinitiveatt spelato play
Presentspelarjag spelar
Pastspeladejag spelade
Supinespelatused after har / hade
Perfecthar spelatjag har spelat
Past perfecthade spelatjag hade spelat
Futureska spelaor: kommer att spela
Conditionalskulle spelajag skulle spela
Imperativespela!a command
Present participlespelande-ing, used as an adjective
Past participlespeladused like an adjective, and agrees like one

Passive (-s form)

Passive of spela
Infinitivespelas
Presentspelas
Pastspelades
Supinespelats

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 spelar. See the four verb groups explained.

Practise spela

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

spela in a sentence

  • spela oskyldig
    pretend to be innocent
  • spela Hamlet
    play Hamlet
  • spela teater
    act a part
  • spela tennis
    play tennis
  • spela schack
    play chess
  • spela och sjunga
    play and sing
  • spela i orkester
    play in an orchestra
  • spela fiol
    play the violin

Expressions

  • det spelar ingen roll
    it doesn't matter

Questions

What does spela mean in English?

spela means “play”.

What is the past tense of spela?

The past tense of spela is spelade (“jag spelade”). The supine is spelat, used in “jag har spelat”.

What is the present tense of spela?

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

Similar words

liratestalåtsaslåtsa

Where the course teaches it

Origin

From Old Norse spila, borrowed from Middle Low German spillen, from Old Saxon spilōn, from Proto-West Germanic *spilōn.

Nearby common words

spela is number 204 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