äga means "to own, to possess." It is the verb of legal and lasting ownership — what you have title to — as opposed to ha ("have"), which covers any kind of having. It is a Group 2 verb taking the -de past (ägde), and it anchors one idiom every learner needs: äga rum, "to take place."
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| äga | äger | ägde | ägt | äg | Group 2 (-de) |
The stem äg- ends in the voiced consonant g, so the past takes -de (not -te): ägde. The supine is ägt. The present is äger — note the -er ending typical of Group 2, not the -ar of Group 1. The bare imperative äg! exists but is rare in practice; you almost never command someone to own something.
Use 1: owning something
The core sense: to hold something as property. The object follows directly, with no preposition.
De äger ett hus på landet.
They own a house in the country. äger + object, plain ownership.
Vem äger den här bilen?
Who owns this car? Present äger in a question — the verb fronts, no helper word.
Familjen ägde gården i över hundra år.
The family owned the farm for over a hundred years. ägde — the Group 2 -de past.
Företaget har ägt fastigheten sedan 1990.
The company has owned the property since 1990. har ägt — perfect, supine ägt after har.
Use 2: äga rum — to take place
The fixed expression äga rum means "to take place, to be held." Literally "to own room/space," it is the standard, slightly formal way to say an event happens. rum here is invariable — it never takes an article and never pluralises in this idiom.
Mötet äger rum imorgon klockan tio. (formal)
The meeting takes place tomorrow at ten o'clock. (formal) äga rum — the event 'happens'.
Bröllopet äger rum i juni.
The wedding takes place in June. A typical written-invitation phrasing.
Konferensen ägde rum i Göteborg förra året.
The conference took place in Gothenburg last year. ägde rum — past tense of the idiom.
Use 3: en ägare — the owner
The agent noun is en ägare ("an owner"), plural ägare (unchanged), definite ägaren. It pairs naturally with äga and is the everyday word for whoever holds something.
Hundens ägare letade efter den i parken.
The dog's owner was looking for it in the park. en ägare = the owner — the person who äger something.
äga vs ha
ha ("have") is the all-purpose verb of possession and is far more common in speech. äga is reserved for genuine, often legal, ownership. You har a headache, a brother, or an idea — but you don't äger them. You äger a flat, a company, the rights to something.
Jag har en bror, men jag äger en lägenhet.
I have a brother, but I own a flat. ha for the relationship, äga for the property — you can't 'own' a brother.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag ägar ett hus. (Group 1 ending)
Incorrect — äga is Group 2, so the present is äger (-er), not *ägar (-ar).
✅ Jag äger ett hus.
I own a house.
❌ Mötet ägde rummet imorgon.
Off — in the idiom rum is bare and invariable: äga rum, never *äga rummet.
✅ Mötet äger rum imorgon.
The meeting takes place tomorrow.
❌ Jag äger huvudvärk.
Wrong verb — you don't 'own' a headache. Use ha for ordinary having: jag har huvudvärk.
✅ Jag har huvudvärk.
I have a headache.
❌ Företaget har ägat fastigheten. (Group 1 supine)
Incorrect — the Group 2 supine is ägt, not *ägat.
✅ Företaget har ägt fastigheten.
The company has owned the property.
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Using the Verb ReferenceA2 — How to read the single-verb reference cards and the principal-parts citation system that underpins them. Every Swedish verb is cited as a short chain — infinitive – present – preteritum – supine – (past participle) — because every other form is derivable from those parts. This page decodes one weak verb (tala – talar – talade – talat) and one strong verb (skriva – skriver – skrev – skrivit – skriven), explains the conjugation-group labels (1/2/3/4), and gives a key to everything on a card.
- The Four Conjugation GroupsA2 — Swedish verbs sort into four conjugation classes, identified not by the present tense but by the PAST (preteritum) and supine: Group 1 (talar/talade/talat), Group 2 (ringer/ringde/ringt, köper/köpte/köpt), Group 3 (bor/bodde/bott), and Group 4, the strong verbs (skriver/skrev/skrivit) that change their vowel. Group 1 is so dominant and regular that every new and borrowed verb joins it — so treat it as the default and memorise only the closed list of strong verbs.
- Possessive Pronouns (min, din, sin)A1 — Swedish possessives split into an agreeing group (min/mitt/mina, din, sin, vår, er) that changes to match the thing OWNED — like Romance languages — and a frozen group (hans, hennes, dess, deras) that never changes. They work both before a noun (min bil) and standing alone (Bilen är min). No apostrophe, ever.