anlända means "to arrive" — but it is the formal, written word, the one you hear over a station loudspeaker, not the one a friend uses to say they got home. It is a Group 2 verb, built from the prefix an- plus the now largely obsolete lända ("to land, reach"). Knowing it matters because you will read and hear it constantly in schedules, news, and official notices — yet you should rarely produce it in casual speech, where Swedish reaches for komma instead.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| anlända | anländer | anlände | anlänt | anländ (rare) | Group 2 (-de) |
anlända is a Group 2 verb: the present ends in -er (anländer), not the Group 1 -ar. Because the stem länd- ends in the voiced d, the past takes -de (anlände), and the supine — the form after har/hade — ends in -t (anlänt). The imperative anländ is grammatically possible but practically unused; you don't command someone to arrive. As always, the verb does not change for the subject: jag anländer, tåget anländer, de anländer are identical.
Use 1: arriving at a place — anlända till
When you name the destination, anlända takes the preposition till. This is fixed: a place you arrive at is introduced by till, never a bare object.
Tåget anländer till Stockholms central klockan 14.
The train arrives at Stockholm Central at 14:00. anländer till + place — the timetable register.
Delegationen anlände till Bryssel sent på kvällen.
The delegation arrived in Brussels late in the evening. anlände — the Group 2 past, with till.
Gästerna har anlänt till hotellet.
The guests have arrived at the hotel. har anlänt — the perfect, supine after har.
Use 2: timetables, announcements, and the news
This is where anlända genuinely belongs. Departure boards, public-address announcements, flight schedules, and news reports all favour it because it is neutral, precise, and a little elevated — exactly the tone such contexts want.
Flyget från London anländer enligt tidtabell. (formal)
The flight from London is arriving on schedule. (formal) anländer is standard timetable language.
Statsministern anlände till mötet under hård bevakning. (formal)
The prime minister arrived at the meeting under heavy security. (formal) News-report register.
Försändelsen anlände en dag försenad. (formal)
The shipment arrived a day late. (formal) Typical of logistics and official notices.
Use 3: why everyday Swedish avoids it — komma (fram)
In ordinary conversation, anlända sounds stiff, almost bureaucratic. The natural everyday verb is komma ("to come"), and for "arrive, get there" specifically, komma fram ("come forward / get there"). Where the announcer says Tåget anländer, a passenger texting a friend says Jag är framme or Jag kommer fram om tio minuter.
Jag kom fram vid sjutiden. (informal)
I got there around seven. (informal) komma fram is the everyday 'arrive'.
Ring mig när du kommer fram! (informal)
Call me when you get there! (informal) No one would say *när du anländer here.
Common Mistakes
❌ Tåget anlände stationen.
Incorrect — a destination needs till: anlände till stationen. anlända never takes a bare object.
✅ Tåget anlände till stationen.
The train arrived at the station.
❌ Jag anländer hem klockan sex. (to a friend)
Off — in casual speech this sounds bureaucratic. Say Jag kommer hem / är hemma klockan sex.
✅ Jag kommer hem klockan sex. (informal)
I'll get home at six. (informal)
❌ Tåget anländar klockan 14. (Group 1 ending)
Incorrect — anlända is Group 2, so the present is anländer (-er), not *anländar (-ar).
✅ Tåget anländer klockan 14.
The train arrives at 14:00.
❌ Gästerna har anlände.
Incorrect — after har use the supine anlänt, not the past anlände.
✅ Gästerna har anlänt.
The guests have arrived.
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
- 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.
- Formal and Written SwedishB2 — The features that mark formal, written Swedish: the full forms (de/dem not dom, sade not sa, någon not nån), the formal demonstratives denna/detta, passives and nominalisations in officialese, the optional masculine -e adjective, and dense subordination — plus the klarspråk counter-pressure against bureaucratic murk. The core thing a learner must internalise: written Swedish demands de/dem and sade/lade even though nobody pronounces them that way. The written/spoken split is a spelling-vs-speech gap you must consciously bridge.