gråta is the Swedish verb "to cry, to weep," and it is a strong verb worth memorising precisely because of its vowel pattern. Its principal parts run gråta – gråter – grät – gråtit, an å–ä–å alternation: the infinitive and supine keep the å, but the past tense grät switches to an ä. It is intransitive — you simply gråter, you do not "cry" an object — and it sits naturally alongside skratta ("to laugh," weak) and skrika ("to scream," strong) in the family of emotional-expression verbs.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gråta | gråter | grät | gråtit | gråt | Group 4 (strong), å–ä–å |
Trace the vowels across the row: infinitive gråta and present gråter keep å, the past drops to grät with ä, and the supine gråtit returns to å. This å→ä→å swing is the whole trick of the verb — the past grät is the only form that breaks the å, and it is exactly where learners reach for a wrong weak ending. There is also a present participle, gråtande ("crying," as in ett gråtande barn, a crying child), used as an adjective.
Hon gråter varje gång hon ser den där filmen.
She cries every time she sees that film. gråter — present, vowel å.
Jag grät av lättnad när provsvaret kom.
I cried with relief when the test result came. grät — past, vowel ä.
Han har gråtit hela natten.
He has cried all night. har gråtit — perfect, supine back to å.
Use 1: present, past and perfect
The three tenses follow the principal parts directly. The present gråter covers both "cry" and "am crying" — there is no separate progressive in Swedish. The past grät is the bare vowel-changed stem with no ending. The perfect is har gråtit and the pluperfect hade gråtit.
Bebisen gråter för att hon är hungrig.
The baby's crying because she's hungry. Present gråter covers 'cries' and 'is crying'.
Vi grät tillsammans på begravningen.
We cried together at the funeral. grät — simple past.
Hade du gråtit? Dina ögon är alldeles röda.
Had you been crying? Your eyes are all red. hade gråtit — pluperfect, supine gråtit.
Use 2: the å–ä–å vowel pattern — why grät is the trap
The reason gråta deserves its own card is that the past grät is so easy to get wrong. The å of the infinitive is psychologically "sticky," so learners write gråtte or even gråtade, both of which are wrong. The correct past is simply grät — one syllable, ä, no ending. Then the å comes straight back in the supine gråtit. Hold the whole skeleton in mind at once: gr*åta – grät – grå*tit.
Filmen var så sorglig att alla i salongen grät.
The film was so sad that everyone in the cinema cried. grät — note the single ä.
Jag har grått... nej, jag har GRÅTIT mycket på sistone.
I've cried... no, I've cried a lot lately. The supine is gråtit, with å — a common self-correction.
Sluta gråt nu, det ordnar sig.
Stop crying now, it'll be all right. Imperative gråt, vowel å.
Use 3: gråta ut and the contrast with skrika
gråta takes the particle gråta ut, which means "to have a good cry" — to cry until you have let it all out and feel better. Keep gråta apart from skrika ("to scream, to shout," also strong: skriker – skrek – skrikit): you gråter from sadness with tears, but you skriker with a loud voice, whether from fear, anger, or pain.
Gå och gråt ut ordentligt, så känns det bättre efteråt.
Go and have a proper cry, you'll feel better afterwards. gråta ut = cry it all out.
Hon grät tyst medan han skrek av ilska.
She cried quietly while he screamed with anger. gråta (tears) vs skrika (voice).
Barnet skrek först och grät sedan i en halvtimme.
The child screamed first and then cried for half an hour. skrek (scream) → grät (cry).
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag gråtade hela kvällen.
Incorrect — gråta is strong and takes no -ade ending. The past is the vowel-changed grät.
✅ Jag grät hela kvällen.
I cried all evening.
❌ Hon grät... nej, hon har grät mycket.
Wrong form after har — you need the supine gråtit, not the past grät.
✅ Hon har gråtit mycket.
She has cried a lot.
❌ Jag gråter honom när han åker. (intending 'I'll miss/cry for him')
Wrong — gråta is intransitive and takes no object. To cry over/about something, use gråta över.
✅ Jag kommer att gråta över att han åker.
I'm going to cry over his leaving.
❌ Barnet gråtte högt.
Wrong past — there is no -te here. The strong past is grät.
✅ Barnet grät högt.
The child cried loudly.
❌ Hon grät av rädsla och slog näven i bordet. (meaning a loud outburst)
Mismatch — for a loud vocal outburst you want skrek (skrika), since gråta is specifically about weeping.
✅ Hon skrek av rädsla och slog näven i bordet.
She screamed in fear and banged her fist on the table.
Now practice Swedish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Index of Strong Verbs by PatternB1 — A navigable index of the common Swedish strong verbs, grouped by ablaut pattern rather than alphabetically — i–e–i (skriva/skrev/skrivit), i–a–u (dricka/drack/druckit), a–o–a (ta/tog/tagit), and the irregular/contracted set (gå/gick/gått). Each group is a four-part table of principal parts with English cognate hints, because organising strong verbs by shared vowel pattern turns a scary list into a few learnable families.
- Strong Verbs: Overview and Principal PartsB1 — Strong verbs (Group 4) don't add a past-tense ending — they change their stem vowel across three principal parts: skriva–skrev–skrivit. The vowel moves in recurring patterns (ablaut) that Swedish shares with English: i–a–u is the same machinery as sing–sang–sung. This page teaches you to read principal parts, recognise the classes, and leverage the English cognate vowels so memorisation becomes pattern-recognition.
- skratta (to laugh)A2 — skratta means 'to laugh' and is a regular Group 1 verb: skratta – skrattar – skrattade – skrattat. Its signature trap is the governed preposition: you skratta ÅT something, not 'at' it — a classic English-to-Swedish mismatch.