Some Swedish verbs cannot stand alone in front of their object — they demand a particular preposition to link to it, and which preposition that is cannot be predicted from meaning. Tänka "think" takes på; vänta "wait" takes på; be "ask" takes om. English-speaking learners get into trouble because they translate the English preposition word-for-word, but the two systems almost never agree: vänta på is "wait for," not "wait on," and tänka på is "think about/of," not "think on." The honest takeaway up front: there is no rule that derives the right preposition, so you learn each verb together with its preposition as a single vocabulary unit, exactly as you learned the verb's spelling.
What "government" means here
A verb governs a preposition when that preposition is a fixed, required part of the verb's grammar — it has been bleached of its own spatial meaning and just serves to attach the object. På normally means "on," but in bero på "depend on / be due to," it carries no "on"-ness at all; it is simply the connector this verb requires.
Allt beror på vädret.
It all depends on the weather. bero på — på is required, with no literal 'on' meaning.
Jag tror på dig.
I believe in you. tro på = 'believe in'; the verb selects på, not i.
Because the preposition is grammatically demanded, you cannot drop it (the way English can sometimes: "I phoned him") and you cannot swap it for a more "logical-seeming" one.
High-frequency verb + preposition pairs
These are the ones worth memorising first. Note in each case how the Swedish preposition diverges from what an English speaker would guess.
| Swedish | English meaning | The mismatch |
|---|---|---|
| tänka på | think about / of | på ≠ "on" |
| vänta på | wait for | på ≠ "for" |
| tro på | believe in | på ≠ "in" |
| bero på | depend on / be due to | (here på does line up) |
| be om | ask for | om ≠ "for" |
| tycka om | like | "like" needs no prep in English |
| längta efter | long for | efter ≠ "for" |
| tala om / prata om | talk about | om = "about" (matches) |
| lyssna på | listen to | på ≠ "to" |
| titta på | look at / watch | på ≠ "at" |
| skratta åt | laugh at | åt ≠ "at" |
| vara intresserad av | be interested in | av ≠ "in" |
Vänta på mig, jag kommer strax!
Wait for me, I'm coming in a sec! vänta PÅ = 'wait for', not 'wait on'.
Kan jag be om en sak till?
Can I ask for one more thing? be OM = 'ask for'.
Hon längtar efter sommaren.
She's longing for summer. längta EFTER = 'long for', not 'after'.
Vi lyssnade på radio och tittade på tv på kvällen.
We listened to the radio and watched TV in the evening. lyssna PÅ, titta PÅ — both 'på' where English uses 'to' and 'at'.
Skratta inte åt honom, det var inte hans fel.
Don't laugh at him, it wasn't his fault. skratta ÅT = 'laugh at'.
Governed prepositions are unstressed — unlike particles
Swedish also has particle verbs, where a stressed little word changes the verb's meaning (tycka "think/have an opinion" vs tycka om "like"; känna "feel" vs känna igen "recognise"). It is worth knowing the difference, because it surfaces in pronunciation and in word order.
- A governed preposition is unstressed and stays glued in front of its object. The stress sits on the verb.
- A stressed particle carries the main stress and behaves like part of the verb. With a pronoun object it can shift around (the particle-verb pages cover this).
The same string tycka om can be either, and stress tells them apart: tycka OM (stress on om) = "like"; the unstressed om in be om is just government. For your purposes here, the verbs in the table above take unstressed governed prepositions — keep your stress on the verb.
Jag tycker om dig.
I like you. Here OM is the stressed particle of the particle verb 'tycka om' = like.
Vad tycker du om filmen?
What do you think about the film? Notice 'tycka' + 'om' again — context and stress mark the 'like/opinion' verb.
Don't drop the preposition
Where English can let a verb take a bare object, Swedish often still demands its preposition. "Phone someone" is ringa *till någon (though *ringa någon also exists colloquially); "wait for the bus" must keep på; "ask for help" keeps om.
Jag ringer till dig i morgon.
I'll phone you tomorrow. ringa till — the preposition stays where English drops it.
De bad om hjälp men ingen kom.
They asked for help but nobody came. be om — you can't drop om.
A note on word order
Because these prepositions sit at the end of the verb phrase, they are exactly the prepositions that get stranded when you question or relativise their object — Vad väntar du *på?* "What are you waiting for?" That pattern has its own page; the point here is that the governed preposition does not disappear, it just moves to the end.
Vad tänker du på?
What are you thinking about? The governed på lands at the end of the question (stranding).
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag väntar för bussen.
Incorrect — 'wait for' translates the English 'for', but Swedish vänta governs på.
✅ Jag väntar på bussen.
I'm waiting for the bus.
❌ Hon tänker om dig hela tiden.
Incorrect — tänka governs på, not om. (tänka om separately means 'reconsider'.)
✅ Hon tänker på dig hela tiden.
She thinks about you all the time.
❌ Kan du ringa mig? — Jag ringer dig sen. (dropping till as a learner default)
Acceptable colloquially, but the careful pattern keeps till: ringa till någon.
✅ Jag ringer till dig sen.
I'll call you later.
❌ Jag är intresserad i historia.
Incorrect — 'interested in' uses Swedish av, not i: intresserad av.
✅ Jag är intresserad av historia.
I'm interested in history.
❌ De skrattade på mig.
Incorrect — 'laugh at' is skratta åt, not skratta på.
✅ De skrattade åt mig.
They laughed at me.
Key Takeaways
- Many Swedish verbs govern a fixed preposition that is grammatically required and cannot be predicted from meaning — learn the verb and preposition as one unit.
- The governed preposition almost never matches the English one: vänta på "wait for," be om "ask for," längta efter "long for," lyssna på "listen to," intresserad av "interested in."
- These prepositions are unstressed (stress stays on the verb), distinguishing them from stressed particles like the om in tycka om "like."
- Don't drop the preposition where English would (ringa *till någon), and expect it to *strand at the end in questions and relatives (Vad väntar du *på?*).
Now practice Swedish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Verb Valency and ObjectsB2 — How many and what kind of arguments a verb takes: intransitive (sova), transitive (läsa boken), ditransitive (ge honom boken). Swedish marks objects by POSITION, not case, allows both 'V indirect direct' and 'V direct till indirect' for double objects like English, but the fixed prepositions after verbs (vänta PÅ, tro PÅ, tänka PÅ) rarely match English.
- Particle Verbs (köra över, tycka om)B1 — Swedish 'phrasal verbs': a verb plus a STRESSED little word (om, på, upp, över) that together mean something the bare verb doesn't — tycka om ('like'), ge upp ('give up'), känna igen ('recognise'). The stress is the whole secret: köra ÖVER ('run over') versus köra över ('drive across') sound different and behave differently.
- Prepositions of Time (i, på, om, för...sedan)B1 — Swedish time prepositions are a notorious mismatch with English: 'in a week' is om en vecka (not i), 'ago' is the circumfix för...sedan wrapping the phrase (för tre dagar sedan), 'last Friday' is i fredags but 'next Friday' is på fredag. This page maps i, på, om, för...sedan and under onto the English meanings they actually carry.
- Preposition StrandingB1 — In Swedish questions, relative clauses and topicalisations, the preposition stays at the END of the clause: Vem bor du med? ('Who do you live with?'), mannen som jag pratade med, Den stolen sitter jag bra i. Stranding is the neutral, preferred pattern — the opposite of the prescriptive English advice that warns against ending a sentence with a preposition. Pied-piping (med vem, i vilken) is formal and literary.