Swedish verb· top 1,000 most common

vakna

wake up/²vɑːkna/

Meaning

wake up

In Swedish: bli vaken, sluta sova

Conjugation

Conjugation of vakna (wake up)
Infinitive	att vakna	to wake up
Present	vaknar	jag vaknar
Past	vaknade	jag vaknade
Supine	vaknat	used after har / hade
Perfect	har vaknat	jag har vaknat
Past perfect	hade vaknat	jag hade vaknat
Future	ska vakna	or: kommer att vakna
Conditional	skulle vakna	jag skulle vakna
Imperative	vakna!	a command
Present participle	vaknande	-ing, used as an adjective
Past participle	vaknad	used like an adjective, and agrees like one

Passive (-s form)

Passive of vakna
Infinitive	vaknas
Present	vaknas
Past	vaknades
Supine	vaknats

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 vaknar. See the four verb groups explained.

Practise vakna

1 / 2

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

vakna in a sentence

vakna kl 2 på natten
waken at 2 in the morning
hans samvete började vakna
his conscience began to stir
Har du vaknat på fel sida i dag?
Did you wake up on the wrong side today? [Are you in a bad mood for some reason? – idiomatic]
Jag vaknade med ett ryck
I woke up with a start
Staden hade precis börjat vakna
The city was just starting to wake up

Questions

What does vakna mean in English?

vakna means “wake up”.

What is the past tense of vakna?

The past tense of vakna is vaknade (“jag vaknade”). The supine is vaknat, used in “jag har vaknat”.

What is the present tense of vakna?

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

Origin

From Old Swedish vakna, from Old Norse vakna, from Proto-Germanic *waknaną, from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ-.

Nearby common words

vakna is number 592 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.

588ställ rack, stand
589stort largely
590kort card, photo
591lär be said to
593bild picture, image
594funka work, function
595träffas meet, be met
596vända turn

Start today, free

Learn vakna in real Swedish, free

Words stick when you hear them used. Complete Swedish Season 1 is 49 short video lessons with a synced transcript, free on the site with no account. A free account saves words like vakna to your library and quizzes you on them, plus 7 days of the AI tutor and speaking practice when you confirm your email.

Season 1 free in full: 49 lessons
Synced transcript with English translations
7-day free trial of the AI tutor and speaking practice
Members get the latest season and every new course

Watch lesson 1 free Create a free account

Sources: Folkets lexikon (CC BY-SA 2.5) and Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), edited by Lingolib. Recording: Wikimedia Commons. Browse the dictionary