boka means "to book, to reserve" — to claim a slot in advance: a table at a restaurant, a flight, a hotel room, or a time with the dentist. It is a perfectly regular Group 1 verb, so all four forms come straight from the tala pattern. It also forms two very common particle verbs, boka om and boka av, and the everyday noun en bokning.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| boka | bokar | bokade | bokat | boka | Group 1 |
There are no surprises here: present bokar (stem + -ar), past bokade (full -ade, not bare -de), supine bokat (-at), and imperative boka (bare stem, same as the infinitive). If you know tala, you already conjugate boka.
Use 1: reserving a table, room, or seat
The core use is reserving a place — somewhere to sit, sleep, or travel.
Jag vill boka ett bord för fyra personer i kväll.
I'd like to book a table for four this evening. boka ett bord — reserving a place at a restaurant.
Vi bokade hotellet flera månader i förväg.
We booked the hotel several months in advance. bokade — the regular Group 1 past.
Har du redan bokat flyget till Stockholm?
Have you already booked the flight to Stockholm? har bokat — the perfect, supine after har.
Use 2: boka tid — make an appointment
A very Swedish phrase: boka tid literally "book time," meaning to make an appointment — at the doctor, the hairdresser, the office.
Jag måste boka tid hos tandläkaren, det har gått alldeles för länge.
I need to make an appointment at the dentist's — it's been far too long. boka tid = make an appointment, an idiom worth memorizing.
Hon bokade tid för en synundersökning på torsdag.
She booked an appointment for an eye exam on Thursday. boka tid — past tense.
Use 3: boka om and boka av
Two particle verbs you'll meet constantly when plans change:
- boka om = rebook, reschedule — move an existing booking to a new time.
- boka av = cancel a booking — call it off entirely.
Kan jag boka om mötet till nästa vecka?
Can I reschedule the meeting to next week? boka om = move the booking, not scrap it.
Vi var tvungna att boka av resan när han blev sjuk.
We had to cancel the trip when he fell ill. boka av = cancel the booking entirely.
The noun: en bokning
The action noun en bokning ("a booking, a reservation") is the confirmed slot itself.
Din bokning är bekräftad — du får ett mejl med alla detaljer.
Your booking is confirmed — you'll get an email with all the details. en bokning — the noun built from boka.
boka vs beställa
English "book" and "order" sometimes blur, but Swedish keeps them strictly apart. boka reserves a slot or place you'll use later — a table, a time, a seat. beställa orders a product you'll receive — food, goods, tickets. You bokar bordet (reserve the table) and then, once seated, beställer maten (order the food).
Först bokar vi bordet, sedan beställer vi maten. (boka vs beställa)
First we book the table, then we order the food. boka = reserve the place, beställa = order the product.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag bokde bordet i går. (bare -de)
Incorrect — boka is Group 1, so the past takes the full -ade: bokade, not *bokde.
✅ Jag bokade bordet i går.
I booked the table yesterday.
❌ Jag vill boka en pizza. (wrong verb)
Off — you don't reserve a pizza. Food and goods take beställa; boka is for slots and places.
✅ Jag vill beställa en pizza.
I'd like to order a pizza.
❌ Jag måste göra en tid hos läkaren. (English calque)
Unnatural — Swedish doesn't 'make' a time. The set phrase is boka tid.
✅ Jag måste boka tid hos läkaren.
I need to make an appointment at the doctor's.
❌ Vi vill boka om resan. (wrong particle for 'cancel')
Wrong meaning — boka om reschedules the trip, it doesn't cancel it. To call it off you need boka av.
✅ Vi vill boka av resan.
We'd like to cancel the trip.
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
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