LW #27: Verb groups (3)
- onlinesprakcafe
- 1 day ago
- 10 min read
WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO KNOW WHICH GROUP A CERTAIN VERB BELONGS TO?
It is not necessary, but it can be helpful.
Grammar is a set of rules for how to use words in a given language. But is it necessary to know these rules?
No, not at all, if you can use the words correctly without it. And some people succeed in doing so. In fact, this is how we all learn our native languages, just by listening to other people speaking, not by learning the rules of grammar and applying them.
However, when we started learning our native language, we had years to do it. Moreover, our brains were very receptive to learning when we were children.
On the other hand, when we move to another country, we are at an older age and we want to go faster in learning a language. And knowing the patterns within a language, which is basically what grammar gives us, can be useful in that sense.
Also, learning just by listening to other people can be misleading, meaning we can learn things incorrectly because the people we learned the language from speak it incorrectly (compared to the official version of that language).
So yes, for me, learning grammar is useful, and that also means knowing which group a particular verb belongs to.
Let's go through verb groups together so I can show you some examples of how I use that knowledge.
Verb group 1
These verbs are the easiest to work with because their infinitive is the basis for forming other verb forms and tenses.
You just add the appropriate suffixes to that infinitive form and that's it.
For example: att prata (to talk)
Presens:
prata+r = pratar
Jag pratar med dig. I'm talking to you.
Preteritum:
prata+de = pratade
Vi pratade igår. We talked yesterday.
Perfekt:
har prata+t = har pratat
Jag har pratat med henne om projektet. I've talked to her about the project.
And the imperative is exactly the same as the infinitive:
prata → Prata!
Prata med mig! Talk to me!
Fortunately, 70% of Swedish verbs belong to this group. However, it is not easy to know which ones do and which ones don't. So knowing the rules of the verb group helps with that.
Verb group 3
Another very simple group is verb group 3 which follows similar patterns to verb group 1 as the infinitive is the basis for forming other verb forms and tenses.
However, the suffixes you add for different tenses and forms are slightly different.
For example: att bo (to live at a certain place)
The presens has the same suffix:
bo+r = bor
Du bor i Malmö. You live in Malmö.
The imperative is also the same as the infinitive:
bo → Bo!
Bo i Stockholm för att det är världens vackraste stad! Live in Stockholm because it is the most beautiful city in the world!
However, the suffixes for the preteritum and the perfekt are a little different.
Preteritum
bo+dde = bodde
Han bodde i Göteborg innan det. He lived in Gothenburg before that.
Perfekt
har bo+tt = har bott
De har bott i Stockholm hela sina liv. They have lived in Stockholm their entire lives.
Is there a way to see which verb belongs to verb group 1 and which belongs to verb group 3?
Yes. And that is a great thing!
Verbs from verb group 3:
tend to be short, often only one syllable long, for example: att må (to feel), att bo (to live at a certain place), att fly (to escape), att sy (to sew), but there are exceptions like att bete sig (to behave) which has two syllables
they tend not to end in -a, but in other vowels, as you can see from the examples above, while the infinitives in verb group 1 always end in -a, for example: att prata (to talk), att studera (to study), att planera (to plan), etc.
Verb group 2
Swedish verbs are divided into 4 groups, but so far we have only learned the first three, so the one left is verb group 2, which is a slightly trickier verb group, at least for me.
Here's the tricky part:
First, there is no way, at least for me, to determine just by looking at the infinitive of a particular verb whether it belongs to verb group 1 or 2 (or even 4) because all of these infinitives end in -a.
For example:
att tala (to speak) - verb group 1
att leva (to live) - verb group 2
Second, when applying the rules for verb group 2, there are exceptions within that group that do not follow the rules exactly. But that is another lesson.
However, there are rules for verb group 2:
When working with these verbs, the basis for all other verb forms is not their infinitive, as with verb groups 1 and 3 where you just take the appropriate suffixes and paste them onto the infinitive - here you take the infinitive, remove the -a at the end and then get the basis for building other forms and tenses.
For example:
att hänga → häng (the basis for creating all other verb forms and tenses)
Presens:
häng+er = hänger
Jag hänger min jacka i hallen. I hang my jacket in the hall.
Please note: The presens suffix is not the same as in verb groups 1 and 3! While there was -r, here it is -er!
However, the preteritum and the perfekt use the same suffixes.
Preteritum
häng+de = hängde
Han hängde sina kläder i garderoben. He hung his clothes in the closet.
Perfekt:
har häng+t = har hängt
Jag har hängt hans kläder. I have hung his clothes.
The imperative is the same as the basis we got by taking -a from the end of the infinitive.
häng → Häng!
Häng din jacka! Hang your jacket!
So one could actually say that the imperative is the basic form for creating everything else. But for me the problem is that I really can't tell if a verb belongs to verb group 1 or 2 just by looking at its infinitive, so I don't know if the correct imperative is Häng! or Hänga!.
So the way I decide whether to follow the rules for verb group 1 or 2 is that I try to make one of the tenses, usually peretritum, and I see what sounds better to me:
For example, what sounds better to you?
Han hängade sina kläder.
or
Han hängde sina kläder?
Hon stängade dörren.
or
Hon stängde dörren.
Hon frågade mig?
or
Hon frågde mig?
Hon planerade sitt schema.
or
Hon planerde sitt schema.
This "technique" is of course not perfect and assumes that you have learned some Swedish previously and developed a sense of what sounds correct or incorrect. But at the moment I have not come across any better way to distinguish between the first two groups of verbs.
However, it is still good to understand verb groups, because if I come across this sentence: Jag hängde mina kläder., I can see that this verb is in group 2 because its base does not contain the full infinitive, and that tells me how to make its imperative.
I know it can't be: Hänga! which otherwise sounds correct to me.
I know it has to be: Häng din jacka här!
I hope I convinced you that it can be good to know the verb groups, so now we're going to do some exercises in recognizing verb groups. :)
Exercises
The preteritum is "hängde".
Which verb form or tense is correct?
A. Han hängar sin jacka. He hangs up his jacket.
B. Hänga! Hang!
C. att hänga något i garderoben, to hang something in the closet
Hon pluggar mycket. She studies a lot.
It is probably _____________ because we see that there is an -a before the presens suffix -r.
A. verb group 1
B. verb group 2
C. verb group 3
De ägde sitt hus. They owned their house.
Which verb form or tense is correct?
A. Äga!
B. att ägga
C. äger
Han har bott där sedan 2022. He has lived there since 2022.
It is a _____________ because there is the suffix -tt which is characteristic of this group.
A. verb group 1
B. verb group 2
C. verb group 3
Jag svarade på hans mejl. I replied to his email.
Which verb form or tense is correct?
A. Svar på min fråga! Answer my question!
B. Han svarar aldrig i tid. He never responds on time.
C. De har aldrig svaratt mig. They have never answered me.
De har anställt mig! They've hired me!
This is verb group 2. What is the imperative?
A. Anställ henne! Hire her!
B. Anställa honom! Hire him!
C. Anstäl dem! Hire them!
Jag följde honom till världens ände. I followed him to the end of the world.
A. presens: jag följar
B. perfekt: de har följtt
C. imperativ: Följ!
Verb group ________ mostly contains one-syllable verbs that do not end in -a.
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
Vad jag säger beror på vad du vill höra. What I am going to say depends on what you want to hear.
Choose the incorrect answer:
A. It is not verb group 1 because this present tense does not end in -ar.
B. It is not verb group 2 because this present doesn't end in -er.
C. It is not verb group 3 because that group only contains verbs with one syllable.
Verb group 1 - choose the incorrect answer:
A. The preteritum ends in -ade.
B. The imperative is the same as the infinitive.
C. The presens can end in -ar but it doesn't have to.
Verb group 2 - choose the correct answer:
A. att bygga - byggade (to build, built)
B. att leva - Leva! (to live, Live!)
C. att följa - har följt (to follow, have followed)
Choose the correct answer:
A. sydde - syr (sewed, sew)
B. mår - har måt (feel, have felt)
C. funderar - har funderatt (ponder, have ponedered)
Choose the incorrect answer:
A. Han ringde dig. Ringa tillbaka! He called you. Call back!
B. Hon stängde dörren men den öppnades. Jag stänger den igen. She closed the door but it opened. I am closing it again.
C. Om du inte behövde mig på 5 månader, behöver du mig inte alls. If you didn't need me in 5 months, you don't need me at all.
Om du inte behövde mig på 5 månader, behöver du mig inte alls.
A. verb group 1
B. verb group 2
C. verb group 3
att bry, stänger, har funderat (to care, close, have pondered)
A. VG: 1, 2, 3
B. VG: 2, 2, 1
C. VG: 3, 2, 1
tuggar, syr, ställer (chew, sew, put)
A. VG: 1, 3, 2
B. VG: 1, 2, 2
C. VG: 3, 3, 2
Correct answers
The preteritum is "hängde".
Which verb form or tense is correct?
A. Han hängar sin jacka. He hangs up his jacket. (hänger)
B. Hänga! Hang! (Häng!)
C. att hänga något i garderoben, to hang something in the closet
Hon pluggar mycket. She studies a lot.
It is probably _____________ because we see that there is an -a before the presens suffix -r.
A. verb group 1 (talar, pratar, undrar)
B. verb group 2 (the presens ends in -er: ställer, stänger, äger)
C. verb group 3 (some other vowel comes before the presents suffix -r: mår, bor, syr)
De ägde sitt hus. They owned their house.
Which verb form or tense is correct?
A. Äga! (Äg!)
B. att ägga (att äga)
C. äger
Han har bott där sedan 2022. He has lived there since 2022.
It is a _____________ because there is the suffix -tt which is characteristic of this group.
A. verb group 1 (the perfekt suffix is -t)
B. verb group 2 (the perfekt suffix is -t)
C. verb group 3
Jag svarade på hans mejl. I replied to his email.
Which verb form or tense is correct?
A. Svar på min fråga! Answer my question! (Svara!)
B. Han svarar aldrig i tid. He never responds on time.
C. De har aldrig svaratt mig. They have never answered me. (De har aldrig svarat mig.)
De har anställt mig! They've hired me!
This is verb group 2. What is the imperative?
A. Anställ henne! Hire her!
B. Anställa honom! Hire him!
C. Anstäl dem! Hire them!
Jag följde honom till världens ände. I followed him to the end of the world.
A. presens: jag följar (följer)
B. perfekt: de har följtt (har följt)
C. imperativ: Följ!
Verb group ________ mostly contains one-syllable verbs that do not end in -a.
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3 (att bo, att bry, att tro)
Vad jag säger beror på vad du vill höra. What I am going to say depends on what you want to hear.
Choose the incorrect answer:
A. It is not verb group 1 because this present tense does not end in -ar. (pratar, talar, planerar)
B. It is not verb group 2 because this present doesn't end in -er. (följer, stänger, ställer)
C. It is not verb group 3 because that group only contains verbs with one syllable. (mostly but not only those verbs, exceptions: att bete, att bero)
Verb group 1 - choose the incorrect answer:
A. The preteritum ends in -ade. (pratade, talade, pluggade)
B. The imperative is the same as the infinitive. (Prata!, Tala!, Tugga!)
C. The presens can end in -ar but it doesn't have to. (no, it does: pratar, talar, planerar, studerar)
Verb group 2 - choose the correct answer:
A. att bygga - byggade (to build, built) (byggde)
B. att leva - Leva! (to live, Live!) (Lev!)
C. att följa - har följt (to follow, have followed)
Choose the correct answer:
A. sydde - syr (sewed, sew)
B. mår - har måt (feel, have felt) (har mått)
C. funderar - har funderatt (ponder, have ponedered) (har funderat)
Choose the incorrect answer:
A. Han ringde dig. Ringa tillbaka! He called you. Call back! (Ring!)
B. Hon stängde dörren men den öppnades. Jag stänger den igen. She closed the door but it opened. I am closing it again.
C. Om du inte behövde mig på 5 månader, behöver du mig inte alls. If you didn't need me in 5 months, you don't need me at all.
Om du inte behövde mig på 5 månader, behöver du mig inte alls.
A. verb group 1
B. verb group 2 (-er in presens, behövde is without a)
C. verb group 3
att bry, stänger, har funderat (to care, close, have pondered)
A. VG: 1, 2, 3
B. VG: 2, 2, 1
C. VG: 3, 2, 1
tuggar, beror, ställer (chew, sew, put)
A. VG: 1, 3, 2
B. VG: 1, 2, 2
C. VG: 3, 3, 2
