betala (to pay) | Swedish Grammar

betala means "to pay." Despite the -tala hiding inside it, it has nothing to do with tala ("to speak"): the be- is an unstressed prefix borrowed from Low German, and the root means "reckon, count" — paying is counting out money. It is a regular Group 1 verb, which matters because the long stem tempts learners into the wrong past tense.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
betala	betalar	betalade	betalat	betala	Group 1

This is fully regular Group 1 — present betalar, past betalade (the full -ade), supine betalat. Watch the stress: be- is unstressed, so the spoken weight falls on -ta-. The be- prefix never separates and never changes.

Use 1: pay (an amount or a bill)

In its plain sense, betala takes what you pay — a bill, a sum, an amount — directly as its object. Like English "pay," it can also be used with no object at all (Jag betalar!, "I'll pay!" / "This one's on me"), and it readily takes a person as an indirect object: betala mig ("pay me"). The verb sits at the centre of countless everyday transactions, so getting its forms automatic is well worth the effort.

Jag betalar räkningen idag.

I'm paying the bill today. betalar — present, the bill as direct object.

Vem betalar för middagen?

Who's paying for dinner? betalar — present, with för introducing what's paid for (see below).

Vi betalade hyran i tid förra månaden.

We paid the rent on time last month. betalade — the regular Group 1 past.

Har du redan betalat räkningen?

Have you already paid the bill? har betalat — perfect, supine betalat after har.

Use 2: betala för — pay for something

To say what you are paying for, Swedish uses betala för + the thing. (When the object is simply "the bill," för is often dropped — betala räkningen — but for goods, services, and people you cover, för is standard.)

Jag betalade för biljetterna.

I paid for the tickets. betala för — för marks what the money buys.

Han betalar alltid för sina vänner.

He always pays for his friends. betalar för — covering someone else's cost.

Vi har betalat för en hel veckas hotell.

We've paid for a whole week's hotel. har betalat för — perfect of the construction.

Use 3: betala med — pay by/with

How you pay — by card, in cash, by invoice — comes in with betala med. So the two prepositions divide the labour cleanly: för points at what you're paying for, med at how you're paying. Keep them apart and you'll rarely go wrong.

Kan jag betala med kort?

Can I pay by card? betala med kort — the standard checkout question in Sweden.

Hon betalade med kontanter.

She paid in cash. betala med kontanter — note Sweden is largely cashless, so card is the default.

Vi betalar med Swish nästan överallt.

We pay with Swish almost everywhere. betala med + the mobile-payment app Swish, ubiquitous in Sweden.

A note on the be- prefix

The be- in betala is worth a moment, because it recurs across hundreds of Swedish verbs: betänka ("consider"), besöka ("visit"), betyda ("mean"). Borrowed from Low German in the Hanseatic era, be- is always unstressed and turns a root into a transitive verb aimed at an object. In betala the root is the old sense "count, reckon" — so paying is literally counting money out toward someone. Crucially, this means betala is not built on tala ("speak"); the resemblance is pure coincidence, and the two verbs share no meaning.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag betalde räkningen.

Incorrect — betala is Group 1, so the past is betalade, not *betalde. The long stem fools people into a Group 2 ending.

✅ Jag betalade räkningen.

I paid the bill.

❌ Jag betaler nu.

Incorrect — Group 1 present is -ar: betalar, not *betaler.

✅ Jag betalar nu.

I'm paying now.

❌ Jag betalade biljetterna med tio euro.

Mixed up — you pay för the tickets and med the money: betalade för biljetterna.

✅ Jag betalade för biljetterna.

I paid for the tickets.

❌ Kan jag betala på kort?

Wrong preposition — payment method takes med: betala med kort.

✅ Kan jag betala med kort?

Can I pay by card?

💡

betala is a regular Group 1 verb — the past is betalade, never *betalde, even though the long stem tempts you toward a Group 2 ending. You pay för something (betala för biljetterna) and med a method (betala med kort). The hidden -tala- is a coincidence: be- is a Low German prefix meaning "reckon," not the verb tala "speak."

Now practice Swedish

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Swedish→