bygga (to build) | Swedish Grammar

bygga means "to build." It is one of the most useful Group 2 verbs to know, partly because building, renovating and constructing come up constantly, and partly because it shows the -de past clearly while still ending in a clean -t supine (byggt). Get bygga right and you have a template for hundreds of other Group 2 verbs whose stems end in a voiced consonant.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
bygga	bygger	byggde	byggt	bygg	Group 2 (-de)

bygga is Group 2, the -er present class. The infinitive bygga drops its -a and adds -er to make the present bygger. The past adds -de directly to the stem bygg-, giving byggde (pronounced with a clear /d/, "byg-de"). The supine — the form after har — is byggt. The imperative is the bare stem bygg! ("Build!"), one letter shorter than the infinitive. Note the double -gg-: it survives in every form because the vowel y is short.

Use 1: present, past, and perfect

Vi bygger ett nytt hus på landet.

We're building a new house in the countryside. bygger — Group 2 present, infinitive + -er.

De byggde bron på bara två år.

They built the bridge in just two years. byggde — the -de past on the stem bygg-.

Han har byggt en altan åt sig själv.

He has built a deck for himself. har byggt — the perfect, supine byggt after har.

Romarna byggde vägar i hela Europa.

The Romans built roads all over Europe. byggde — same regular past, no vowel change.

Use 2: bygga om and bygga ut — renovate and extend

The particle changes the meaning in predictable ways. bygga om ("build over again") means "renovate" or "remodel." bygga ut ("build out") means "extend, add on to." bygga upp ("build up") means "build up" — both literally and figuratively, as in building up a business or rebuilding something destroyed.

Vi ska bygga om köket i sommar.

We're going to renovate the kitchen this summer. bygga om = remodel/renovate, not build from scratch.

De byggde ut huset med ett extra rum.

They extended the house with an extra room. bygga ut = add on, make bigger.

Det tog många år att bygga upp företaget.

It took many years to build up the company. bygga upp — figurative 'build up' here.

Use 3: the -s passive byggs

Swedish forms its most common passive simply by adding -s to the verb. For bygga the present passive is byggs ("is built / is being built"). You see this constantly on construction signs and in the news, because the focus is on what is being built, not who is building it.

Huset byggs nu — det är klart till hösten.

The house is being built now — it'll be done by autumn. byggs = -s passive present, 'is being built'.

En ny skola byggdes här på 90-talet.

A new school was built here in the 90s. byggdes = -s passive past.

Bron har byggts om helt sedan dess.

The bridge has been completely rebuilt since then. har byggts om — -s passive perfect with the particle om.

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The noun from bygga is en byggnad ("a building") — and the whole field is byggbranschen ("the construction industry"). If you can say Huset byggs ("The house is being built"), you've mastered the single most common passive in Swedish signage and news.

Common Mistakes

❌ Vi byggade ett hus. (Group 1 ending)

Incorrect — bygga is Group 2, so the past is byggde, not the Group 1 *byggade.

✅ Vi byggde ett hus.

We built a house.

❌ Jag har byggat en altan. (Group 1 supine)

Incorrect — the supine is byggt (-t), not *byggat. Group 2 supines end in -t, not -at.

✅ Jag har byggt en altan.

I have built a deck.

❌ Vi byggar ett hus. (Group 1 present)

Incorrect — Group 2 takes -er in the present: bygger, not *byggar.

✅ Vi bygger ett hus.

We're building a house.

❌ Huset är byggande nu. (wrong passive)

Off — to say 'is being built', use the -s passive byggs, not a participle: Huset byggs nu.

✅ Huset byggs nu.

The house is being built now.

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