hålla means "to hold," and it is one of the most useful strong verbs in the language — not only for gripping things, but because it powers two everyday constructions you will use constantly. Its past tense is höll (with ö), and the full triple is hålla–höll–hållit. The two idioms to master are hålla med ("agree") and hålla på att + infinitive — Swedish's main way of saying "to be in the middle of doing something," its answer to the English present continuous.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hålla | håller | höll | hållit | håll | strong |
The vowel runs å → ö → å: infinitive and present keep å (hålla, håller), the past is höll with ö, and the supine returns to å in hållit — used after ha for the perfect (har hållit). The past participle is hållen. The imperative is håll (Håll i dig!, "Hold on!"). Note that the supine is hållit, not *hållt — the -it ending is the strong-verb signature.
Kan du hålla min väska en sekund?
Can you hold my bag for a second? hålla — the plain 'hold'.
Hon höll dörren öppen åt mig.
She held the door open for me. höll — strong past, vowel ö. This is the form to lock in.
Vädret har hållit sig fint hela veckan.
The weather has stayed nice all week. har hållit — perfect, supine vowel back to å (hålla sig = 'keep, stay').
Use 1: hold, keep, give (a talk)
The literal verb covers holding/gripping, but it also stretches into "keep" and a few collocations English handles with other verbs. A notable one: you håller a speech or a lesson — hålla ett tal, hålla en lektion.
Håll i ledstången när du går ner.
Hold the handrail when you go down. håll i — hold on to; imperative.
Han höll ett kort tal på bröllopet.
He gave a short speech at the wedding. hålla ett tal — Swedish 'holds' a speech.
Löftet höll inte ens en vecka.
The promise didn't even last a week. hålla here = 'hold / last / stay true'.
Use 2: hålla med — "to agree"
hålla med is the everyday verb for agreeing with someone. The person you agree with goes straight after, with no preposition; if you name the topic, you add om: hålla med om något ("agree about something").
Jag håller med dig — det var ett dåligt förslag.
I agree with you — that was a bad suggestion. hålla med + person, no preposition.
De höll inte med om priset.
They didn't agree about the price. hålla med om — add om for the topic.
Håller du med? — Ja, helt och hållet.
Do you agree? — Yes, completely. håller du med — a very common short question.
Use 3: hålla på att — the Swedish progressive
Swedish has no separate present-continuous tense, so to stress that an action is in progress right now it uses hålla på att + infinitive — "to be in the middle of doing." This is one of the highest-value patterns on this card.
Jag håller på att laga mat — kan jag ringa upp dig sen?
I'm (in the middle of) cooking — can I call you back later? hålla på att + infinitive = the progressive.
Vi höll på att packa när du ringde.
We were (busy) packing when you called. höll på att — the past progressive.
Closely related is hålla på med + a noun ("be busy with, be working on something"):
Vad håller du på med? — Jag håller på med läxorna.
What are you up to? — I'm working on my homework. hålla på med + noun.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hon hållade dörren.
Incorrect — hålla is strong, no -ade. The regularisation trap: the past is höll, not *hållade.
✅ Hon höll dörren.
She held the door. Strong past with ö: höll.
❌ Jag har hållt ett tal.
Incorrect — the strong supine ends in -it: hållit, not *hållt.
✅ Jag har hållit ett tal.
I've given a speech. Supine: hållit.
❌ Jag håller med med dig.
Incorrect — hålla med takes the person directly; you don't add a second med (or any preposition) before the person.
✅ Jag håller med dig.
I agree with you.
❌ Jag håller laga mat just nu.
Incorrect — the progressive needs the full frame hålla på att + infinitive; you can't drop på att.
✅ Jag håller på att laga mat just nu.
I'm cooking right now. hålla på att + infinitive.
- infinitive = "be in the middle of -ing" — Swedish's everyday present continuous.
Now practice Swedish
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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.
- Expressing Ongoing Actions (håller på att, sitter och)B1 — Swedish has no continuous tense — no equivalent of 'am reading'. The plain present does the job by default (Jag läser). For an action actively in progress it uses håller på att, and for an action ongoing in a bodily posture it uses the distinctive posture-verb + och construction (sitter och läser, står och väntar) — a genuine aspectual device with no English parallel.