Swedish verb · noun· top 100 most common

vara

be, last, am/are/is/²vɑːra/

How vara is used

Vara is “to be”, and like English “be” it is the most irregular verb in the language: är (present, for every person), var (past), varit (supine). As an ordinary verb it also means to last: filmen varar i två timmar.

vara as a verb

Meaning

be; last; am/are/is

In Swedish: räcka, hålla på

Conjugation

Conjugation of vara (be)
Infinitive	att vara	to be
Present	är	jag är
Past	var	jag var
Supine	varit	used after har / hade
Perfect	har varit	jag har varit
Past perfect	hade varit	jag hade varit
Future	ska vara	or: kommer att vara
Conditional	skulle vara	jag skulle vara

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 är. See the four verb groups explained.

vara as a noun(en vara)

Meaning

goods; commodity

In Swedish: det som köps och säljs; artikel

Forms

Forms of vara
Singular, indefinite	en vara
Singular, definite	varan
Plural, indefinite	varor
Plural, definite	varorna

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

Practise vara

1 / 2

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

vara in a sentence

Jag är lärare.
I'm a teacher.
Var var du i går?
Where were you yesterday?
Har du varit i Sverige?
Have you been to Sweden?
strejken varade (i) tio dagar
the strike lasted ten days
han är snickare
he is a carpenter
det var kallt ute
it is (was) cold outside
faktum är att jag hör dåligt
the fact is I am hard of hearing
boken är min
the book is mine
jag är 15 år
I am 15
jag har varit i Finland
I have been to Finland

Expressions

ta vara på
take care of
ta till vara
make use of

Words built with vara

köttvara meat product
varusmuggling smuggling
handelsvara merchandise

Questions

What does vara mean in English?

vara means “be, last”.

Is it en vara or ett vara?

It is en vara, and “the goods” is varan.

What is the plural of vara?

The plural of vara is varor, and the definite plural is varorna.

What is the past tense of vara?

The past tense of vara is var (“jag var”). The supine is varit, used in “jag har varit”.

What is the present tense of vara?

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

Similar words

produktbefinnafinnas till

Where the course teaches it

Origin

Inherited from Old Swedish vara, væra from Old Norse vera, earlier vesa, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną.

Nearby common words

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

1jag I
2det that, it
4du you
5att to, that
6inte not
7ha have, have, possess; be provided with
8en a, an
9och and

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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