blåsa means "to blow" — and it covers everything English does with that verb plus one thing English handles differently: the weather. Where English says "it's windy," Swedish says Det blåser — literally "it blows," with an impersonal det and no real subject. Learn that one construction and you can talk about wind like a native, on top of blowing out candles and inflating balloons.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| blåsa | blåser | blåste | blåst | blås | Group 2 (-te) |
blåsa is a Group 2 verb that takes the voiceless -te past. The stem ends in -s, a voiceless sound, and a voiceless stem pulls a voiceless ending: blåste, supine blåst. (This is the same logic as läsa → läste and resa → reste.) The present is blås- + -er = blåser, and the imperative is the bare stem blås (Blås ut ljusen! "Blow out the candles!"). Note the å throughout — it is blåsa, never blasa.
Use 1: blow (out, on, away)
The literal action of blowing air — most commonly blåsa ut ("blow out") a flame or candle.
Blås ut ljusen och önska något!
Blow out the candles and make a wish! blåsa ut — particle ut, the birthday-cake verb.
Han blåste på soppan så den svalnade.
He blew on the soup so it cooled down. blåste — the voiceless -te past.
Vinden har blåst bort alla löven.
The wind has blown all the leaves away. har blåst bort — perfect with the particle bort.
Use 2: Det blåser — it's windy
This is the construction to internalize. To describe wind, Swedish uses blåsa impersonally with det as a dummy subject. There is no real "it" — det just fills the subject slot, exactly as in det regnar ("it's raining").
Det blåser hårt idag — ta med dig en jacka.
It's very windy today — bring a jacket. Det blåser — impersonal det, the standard way to say 'it's windy'.
Det blåste hela natten.
It was windy all night. blåste — the past of the weather construction.
Vet du om det ska blåsa imorgon?
Do you know if it's going to be windy tomorrow? ska blåsa — future of the impersonal verb.
Use 3: blåsa upp — inflate / blow up
With upp ("up"), blåsa upp means to inflate — a balloon, a tyre, an air mattress. It can also describe a storm "blowing up."
Kan du blåsa upp ballongerna till festen?
Can you blow up the balloons for the party? blåsa upp — 'inflate'.
Det blåste upp till storm på eftermiddagen.
It blew up into a storm in the afternoon. Here blåsa upp = a storm gathering, still impersonal det.
The noun: en blåsa
Worth a quick note: the noun en blåsa means "a blister" (or, anatomically, the bladder, urinblåsan). Same root — a blister is a little bubble of "blown-up" skin — but as a noun it does not conjugate. Don't confuse en blåsa ("a blister") with the verb att blåsa ("to blow").
How this differs from English
English needs a separate adjective — "windy" — to describe the weather, and treats "blow" as a regular action verb ("the wind blows"). Swedish does both jobs with one impersonal construction: Det blåser is the default way to say "it's windy," with no adjective at all. You can say det är blåsigt ("it is windy", using the adjective blåsig), and it's correct, but a Swede describing the weather right now will almost always reach for the verb: Det blåser. The adjective blåsig tends to describe a place or a general tendency (en blåsig kust, "a windy coast") rather than the conditions at this moment. So match the English "it's windy today" to the verb, and "a windy place" to the adjective.
Det blåser idag, och kusten är alltid blåsig.
It's windy today, and the coast is always windy. The verb Det blåser for now; the adjective blåsig for a general trait.
Common Mistakes
❌ Det blåsde igår.
Incorrect — the stem ends in voiceless s, so the past is blåste, not *blåsde.
✅ Det blåste igår.
It was windy yesterday.
❌ Det är blåsigt-vind ute. / Vinden blåsar.
Off — for 'it's windy' just say Det blåser; and the present is blåser (-er), not *blåsar.
✅ Det blåser ute.
It's windy outside.
❌ Blasa ut ljusen.
Spelling — the vowel is å: blåsa, not *blasa.
✅ Blås ut ljusen.
Blow out the candles.
❌ Idag blåser. (missing subject)
Incomplete — the impersonal construction needs det: Idag blåser det / Det blåser idag.
✅ Det blåser idag.
It's windy today.
Now practice Swedish
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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.
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