laga (to cook; to fix) | Swedish Grammar

laga is a regular Group 1 verb that carries two senses English splits into separate words: "to cook" (in laga mat) and "to fix, repair" (as in laga cykeln). One Swedish verb does both jobs, and context tells you which.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
laga	lagar	lagade	lagat	laga	Group 1

Fully regular. Present is the infinitive plus -r (laga → lagar); the past adds -de (lagade); the supine after har ends in -at (lagat); the imperative is the bare stem (Laga! "Fix it!"). No stem change, no subject agreement.

Use 1: laga mat — cooking

The "cook" sense almost always appears as laga mat ("cook food"). To cook a specific dish, laga takes that dish as its object directly.

Jag lagar mat nästan varje kväll.

I cook almost every evening. laga mat — the everyday phrase for 'cook'.

Min pappa lagade en fantastisk fiskgryta igår.

My dad cooked a fantastic fish stew yesterday. lagade — the regular Group 1 past.

Vi har redan lagat middagen, så sätt dig.

We've already cooked dinner, so sit down. har lagat — the perfect, supine lagat after har.

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Don't confuse laga with koka. laga mat is the general "prepare a meal, cook"; koka is specifically "to boil" (in water): koka pasta, koka ägg. You lagar the whole dinner but you only kokar the things that go in boiling water.

Use 2: laga — fix, repair

The other sense is "to repair, mend, fix" — a broken bike, a hole in a sock, a leaking tap. Here laga overlaps with the more technical reparera ("to repair"), but laga is the plain everyday word.

Kan du laga min cykel? Kedjan har hoppat av.

Can you fix my bike? The chain has come off. laga = 'repair'.

Skomakaren lagade mina stövlar för en billig peng.

The cobbler fixed my boots for cheap. lagade — past of the 'repair' sense.

De har äntligen lagat hålet i taket.

They've finally fixed the hole in the roof. har lagat — the perfect.

Tandläkaren lagade en tand på mig i morse.

The dentist filled a tooth for me this morning. laga is also the word for filling a tooth.

The -s passive: lagas in recipes

Recipes and instructions love the -s passive, where -s on the verb means "is done" without naming a doer. Maten lagas... = "The food is cooked / prepared..."

Maten lagas i köket och serveras i matsalen.

The food is cooked in the kitchen and served in the dining room. lagas — the -s passive of laga.

Soppan lagas på fem minuter.

The soup is made in five minutes. lagas — typical recipe register.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag lager mat. (Group 2 ending)

Incorrect — laga is Group 1, so the present is lagar (-ar), not *lager (-er).

✅ Jag lagar mat.

I cook.

❌ Han lagde middagen. (bare -de)

Incorrect — Group 1 takes the full -ade. The past is lagade, not *lagde.

✅ Han lagade middagen.

He cooked dinner.

❌ Vi har lagade maten.

Incorrect — after har you need the supine lagat, not the past lagade.

✅ Vi har lagat maten.

We've cooked the food.

❌ Jag lagar pasta i tio minuter. (meaning 'boil')

Off — to boil something in water, use koka: Jag kokar pasta. laga is 'cook/prepare' in general, not 'boil'.

✅ Jag kokar pasta i tio minuter.

I boil pasta for ten minutes.

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laga is one regular Group 1 verb (laga – lagar – lagade – lagat) doing two English jobs: laga mat = "cook," and plain laga = "fix/repair" (laga cykeln). Keep koka ("boil") and reparera ("repair", technical) in reserve, and watch for the recipe passive lagas.

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