Swedish verb· top 5,000 most common

svälja

swallow

Meaning

swallow

In Swedish: föra ner (föda) genom matstrupen

Conjugation

Conjugation of svälja (swallow)
Infinitiveatt sväljato swallow
Presentsväljerjag sväljer
Pastsvaldejag svalde
Supinesvaltused after har / hade
Perfecthar svaltjag har svalt
Past perfecthade svaltjag hade svalt
Futureska sväljaor: kommer att svälja
Conditionalskulle sväljajag skulle svälja
Imperativesvälj!a command
Present participlesväljande-ing, used as an adjective
Past participlesvaldused like an adjective, and agrees like one

Passive (-s form)

Passive of svälja
Infinitivesväljas
Presentsväljs
Pastsvaldes
Supinesvalts

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 sväljer. See the four verb groups explained.

Practise svälja

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

svälja in a sentence

  • hon svalde maten utan att tugga
    she swallowed the food without chewing
  • Sväljer riksdagen det här förslaget?
    Will Parliament swallow this proposal?
  • Jag råkade svälja en fluga en gång
    I accidentally swallowed a fly once
  • svälja sin stolthet
    swallow one's pride [idiomatic]
  • Det är svårt att svälja att vi är ute ur turneringen
    It's hard to swallow that we are out of the tournament
  • Hon svalde det med hull och hår
    She swallowed it hook, line and sinker

Questions

What does svälja mean in English?

svälja means “swallow”.

What is the past tense of svälja?

The past tense of svälja is svalde (“jag svalde”). The supine is svalt, used in “jag har svalt”.

What is the present tense of svälja?

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

Origin

From Old Swedish svælgha, from Old Norse svelga, svelgja, from Proto-Germanic *swelganą, from Proto-Indo-European *swelk-.

Nearby common words

svälja is number 4,007 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