dricka (to drink) | Swedish Grammar

dricka is the Swedish verb "to drink," and it is the model member of the i–a–u strong class. Its principal parts run dricka – drack – druckit, with three different vowels in a row, and they map perfectly onto English drink – drank – drunk. The detail to nail down is that the supine vowel is u (druckit), not the a of the past (drack) — a single fact you must store separately, because you cannot derive one from the other.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
dricka	dricker	drack	druckit	drick	Group 4 (strong), i–a–u

Track the vowel across the row: infinitive and present i (dricka, dricker), past a (drack), supine u (druckit). Three grades, exactly like English drink → drank → drunk. The agreeing past participle is drucken (en-word), drucket (ett-word), druckna (plural) — and drucken on its own also means "drunk / intoxicated."

Jag dricker alltid kaffe på morgonen.

I always drink coffee in the morning. dricker — present, vowel i.

Vi drack för mycket vin på festen.

We drank too much wine at the party. drack — past, vowel a.

Har du redan druckit upp hela flaskan?

Have you already drunk the whole bottle? har druckit — perfect, supine vowel u.

Use 1: present, past and perfect

The three tenses come straight off the principal parts. The present dricker serves for both "drink" and "am drinking." The past drack is a bare vowel-changed stem with no ending. The perfect is har druckit; the pluperfect is hade druckit.

Barnen dricker mjölk till maten.

The children drink milk with their meal. Present dricker.

Hon drack upp sitt glas och gick.

She finished her glass and left. drack — simple past.

Vi hade druckit kaffe innan tåget kom.

We had drunk coffee before the train came. hade druckit — pluperfect, supine druckit.

Use 2: the drack / druckit vowel contrast

This is the point worth drilling. The past is drack with an a; the supine is druckit with a u. Learners constantly carry the past vowel into the perfect and produce har drack — but after har the form must be druckit. Say the three parts aloud as a chant: dricka, drack, druckit.

Jag drack ingenting, men de andra har druckit hela kvällen.

I didn't drink anything, but the others have been drinking all evening. drack (a) vs har druckit (u) in one sentence.

Hade jag druckit mindre hade jag mått bättre.

If I'd drunk less I'd have felt better. hade druckit — the supine vowel u again.

Use 3: the particle dricka upp and the participle drucken

The completive particle upp turns dricka into "drink up / finish the drink," marking that the liquid is fully consumed. Separately, the participle drucken is the everyday adjective for "drunk / intoxicated."

Drick upp nu, vi måste gå.

Drink up now, we have to go. dricka upp — finish the drink (imperative drick).

Han var ganska drucken och tog en taxi hem.

He was rather drunk and took a taxi home. drucken — the participle as an adjective, 'intoxicated'.

Mjölken är redan urdrucken.

The milk is already drunk up / all gone. The participle agreeing with mjölken (en-word).

A note on the i–a–u family

dricka does not sit alone — it heads a whole cluster of common strong verbs that share the i–a–u pattern, so once you own dricka, drack, druckit you can read the others by analogy. The family includes vinna – vann – vunnit ("win"), finna – fann – funnit ("find"), binda – band – bundit ("tie/bind") and springa – sprang – sprungit ("run"). When you meet an unfamiliar one-syllable past with a like vann or band, the pattern tells you the supine will carry u (vunnit, bundit) — and usually that an English cognate (win/won, bind/bound) is waiting to help.

De drack och vann — vi förlorade och betalade.

They drank and won — we lost and paid. drack and vann are both i–a–u pasts.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag drickade en öl igår.

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

✅ Jag drack en öl igår.

I drank a beer yesterday.

❌ Vi har drack allt kaffe.

Incorrect — that's the past vowel a. After har the supine has its own vowel u: druckit.

✅ Vi har druckit allt kaffe.

We've drunk all the coffee.

❌ Jag har drickit te.

Wrong supine vowel — it's not the infinitive i either. The supine is druckit, with u.

✅ Jag har druckit te.

I've drunk tea.

❌ Han drickde vatten. (intending past)

Incorrect — no -de ending on a strong verb. The past is drack.

✅ Han drack vatten.

He drank water.

💡

Hook into the English cognate: dricka – drack – druckit is exactly drink – drank – drunk, three vowels in a row (i–a–u). The trap is the supine: after har the vowel is u (har druckit), not the past's a (drack). And drucken on its own means "drunk / tipsy."

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