brinna (to burn, intransitive) | Swedish Grammar

brinna is the Swedish verb "to burn" in the intransitive sense — to be on fire, to be alight: huset brinner, "the house is on fire." It is a strong verb of the i–a–u type, with principal parts brinna – brann – brunnit, the very same shape as sjunga – sjöng – sjungit's sister pattern and exactly like vinna – vann – vunnit ("win") and finna – fann – funnit ("find"). The single most important thing about brinna is that it cannot take an object: the fire burns, the candle burns, the forest burns. To burn something — toast, your hand, a CD — you need a different verb entirely: the transitive, weak bränna (bränna – brände – bränt). Mixing them up is the classic English-speaker error, because English uses one word "burn" for both.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
brinna	brinner	brann	brunnit	brinn	Group 4 (strong), i–a–u

Track the vowels: infinitive and present in i (brinna, brinner), past in a (brann), supine in u (brunnit). This i–a–u walk mirrors English begin – began – begun and swim – swam – swum, so the pattern should feel familiar — Swedish just keeps it tidy and predictable here. The agreeing past participle brunnen / brunnet / brunna ("burnt out, scorched") shows up in nedbrunnen ("burned down"): ett nedbrunnet hus, "a burned-down house."

Brasan brinner fortfarande, men snart är veden slut.

The fire is still burning, but the firewood will soon run out. brinner — present, intransitive.

Ladan brann ner till grunden på en timme.

The barn burned to the ground in an hour. brann — past, vowel a.

Det har brunnit i skogen norr om stan i flera dagar.

There's been a fire in the forest north of town for several days. har brunnit — perfect, supine vowel u.

Use 1: present, past and perfect

The three tenses follow the principal parts. The present brinner covers both "burns" and "is burning." The past brann is the bare vowel-changed stem with a. The perfect is har brunnit; the pluperfect hade brunnit.

Stearinljusen brinner på bordet hela kvällen.

The candles burn on the table all evening. brinner — present, intransitive.

Elden brann hela natten innan brandkåren fick stopp på den.

The fire burned all night before the fire brigade got it under control. brann — past, vowel a.

När vi kom fram hade hela kvarteret redan brunnit.

When we arrived, the whole block had already burned. hade brunnit — pluperfect, supine brunnit.

Use 2: the heart of it — brinna (intransitive) vs bränna (transitive)

This is the point to drill. brinna is intransitive: a thing is on fire, with no doer acting on an object. bränna is transitive: someone burns something. And bränna is weak (Group 2), so it conjugates completely differently — bränna – bränner – brände – bränt — with a -de/-t ending, no vowel change. Compare:

Soppan brinner inte, men jag brände den i botten.

The soup isn't on fire, but I burned it on the bottom. brinner (intr., strong) vs brände (tr., weak).

Var försiktig, du bränner dig på plattan!

Be careful, you'll burn yourself on the hotplate! bränner — transitive, weak; takes the object dig.

Huset brann, och gnistorna brände hål i grannens markis.

The house burned, and the sparks burned holes in the neighbour's awning. brann (intr.) and brände (tr.) side by side.

💡

The cleanest test: if you can ask "burned what?" and answer with an object, you need the transitive bränna (weak: brände, bränt). If the thing is simply on fire by itself, you need the intransitive brinna (strong: brann, brunnit). English hides this distinction under one word "burn" — Swedish makes you choose.

Use 3: figurative — brinna för, brinna upp

brinna för (något) is the warm idiom "to be passionate about, burn for" a cause or interest — your eyes light up, you care intensely. The particle verb brinna upp means "to burn up / burn down completely" (intransitive: the thing is consumed by fire).

Hon brinner verkligen för klimatfrågan.

She is genuinely passionate about the climate issue. brinna för — 'be passionate about'.

Han brann för musiken redan som barn.

He was passionate about music even as a child. brann för — past.

Hela arkivet brann upp i branden förra året.

The whole archive burned up in the fire last year. brann upp — past, 'burned down completely'.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag brann brödet i ugnen. (using intransitive brinna with an object)

Incorrect — brinna can't take an object. To burn *something* you need the transitive bränna: jag brände brödet.

✅ Jag brände brödet i ugnen.

I burned the bread in the oven.

❌ Huset bränner! (using transitive bränna for a thing on fire)

Incorrect — a thing that is on fire by itself takes the intransitive brinna: huset brinner.

✅ Huset brinner!

The house is on fire!

❌ Ladan brinnade ner. (regularising the strong verb)

Incorrect — brinna is strong and takes no -ade ending. The past is the vowel-changed brann.

✅ Ladan brann ner.

The barn burned down.

❌ Det har brann hela natten. (using the past instead of the supine)

Incorrect — after har you need the supine brunnit, not the past brann.

✅ Det har brunnit hela natten.

It has been burning all night.

💡

Keep the i–a–u chant: brinna – brann – brunnit — same family as vinna – vann – vunnit and English begin – began – begun. Remember it is intransitive: a thing burns on its own. To burn something, switch to the weak transitive bränna (brände, bränt). And brinna för means "to be passionate about."

Now practice Swedish

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

Start learning Swedish→