le is the Swedish verb "to smile," and despite being only two letters long it is a genuine strong verb. Its principal parts run le – ler – log – lett, an e–o–e vowel pattern: the present ler keeps the e, the past log drops to a back vowel o, and the supine lett returns to e with a doubled consonant. The form to treasure is the deverbal leende, which works both as the present participle "smiling" and as the everyday noun ett leende "a smile."
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| le | ler | log | lett | le | Strong, e–o–e |
Read the vowels across the row: e in ler, o in log, back to e in lett. The past log is the form learners forget — it has no ending at all, just the bare vowel-changed stem, and it rhymes with tog (took, from ta). The supine is lett, so the perfect is har lett. Because the stem ends in a vowel, the imperative is simply le — identical to the infinitive.
Hon ler alltid när hon ser hunden.
She always smiles when she sees the dog. ler — present, vowel e.
Han log brett och tog emot priset.
He smiled broadly and accepted the prize. log — past, vowel o.
Du har inte lett en enda gång idag.
You haven't smiled once today. har lett — perfect, supine lett.
Use 1: present, past and perfect
The three tenses follow the principal parts directly. The present ler covers both English "smile" and "am smiling" — Swedish has no separate progressive. The past is the bare stem log, and the perfect is har lett, with the pluperfect hade lett.
Bebisen ler för första gången.
The baby is smiling for the first time. Present ler covers 'smiles' and 'is smiling'.
Alla på bilden log mot kameran.
Everyone in the photo smiled at the camera. log — simple past.
Vi hade redan lett åt skämtet innan han hann säga slutet.
We had already smiled at the joke before he managed to say the punchline. hade lett — pluperfect, still the supine lett.
Use 2: le mot — smiling AT someone
You do not smile to someone in Swedish; you smile towards them. The verb takes the preposition mot ("towards") to name the person or thing you smile at: le mot någon. The older, more literary variant le åt exists too, but le åt något leans toward "smile at (a joke / something amusing)," while le mot någon is the warm, face-to-face smile.
Le mot mig nu, det här blir ett fint kort!
Smile at me now, this'll be a nice photo! le mot = smile at/towards (a person).
Hon log mot främlingen på bussen och han log tillbaka.
She smiled at the stranger on the bus and he smiled back. log mot — past.
Vi kunde inte låta bli att le åt hans torra humor.
We couldn't help smiling at his dry humour. le åt — smiling at something amusing.
Use 3: leende — the high-value deverbal form
The single most useful thing to take from this card is leende. It is built like any -ande present participle, and it does double duty:
- as a participle/adjective: ett leende ansikte "a smiling face," leende barn "smiling children";
- as a noun: ett leende "a smile," plural leenden "smiles."
This is a classic Swedish pattern — the -ende/-ande form of a verb hardens into a concrete noun. So while English needs the separate noun "a smile," Swedish simply nominalises the verb.
Hon mötte mig med ett varmt leende.
She met me with a warm smile. ett leende = a smile (noun).
Hans leende smittade av sig på hela rummet.
His smile was contagious across the whole room. Subject noun leende.
Ett leende barn sprang fram över gräset.
A smiling child ran forward across the grass. leende as an adjective/participle.
le vs skratta
Keep le (smile) apart from skratta (laugh). le is silent and strong (ler/log/lett); skratta is loud and a regular -ade verb (skrattar/skrattade/skrattat). Mixing the meanings is the commonest semantic slip.
Hon log artigt men skrattade aldrig högt.
She smiled politely but never laughed out loud. le = smile, skratta = laugh.
Use 4: the prefixed cousins — småle and tillbakale
Two everyday compounds inherit le's strong pattern wholesale. småle "to smile faintly, to half-smile" runs småler – smålog – smålett, with the prefix små- ("small, slight") softening the smile to a quiet one — the Mona Lisa-style smile is a småleende. And le tillbaka "smile back" is the natural way to return a smile. Because the prefix never touches the stem, knowing log/lett hands you smålog/smålett for free.
Hon smålog för sig själv åt minnet.
She smiled faintly to herself at the memory. smålog — past of småle, a slight smile.
Jag log mot honom och han log tillbaka.
I smiled at him and he smiled back. le tillbaka = smile back.
Hennes gåtfulla småleende avslöjade ingenting.
Her enigmatic faint smile revealed nothing. småleende — the noun, a slight smile.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hon leade när hon såg mig.
Incorrect — le is strong and takes no -ade ending. The past is the vowel-changed log.
✅ Hon log när hon såg mig.
She smiled when she saw me.
❌ Jag har log hela dagen.
Incorrect — after har you need the supine lett, not the past log.
✅ Jag har lett hela dagen.
I've been smiling all day.
❌ Hon log till mig.
Wrong preposition — you smile towards a person with mot, not 'till'.
✅ Hon log mot mig.
She smiled at me.
❌ Han gav mig en stor le.
Wrong noun — the noun 'a smile' is the deverbal ett leende, not the bare infinitive.
✅ Han gav mig ett stort leende.
He gave me a big smile.
❌ Barnen log högt åt clownen.
Off — to laugh out loud is skratta; le is the silent smile and can't be 'loud'.
✅ Barnen skrattade högt åt clownen.
The children laughed out loud at the clown.
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.
- Deverbal Nouns (-ning, -ande, -nad)B2 — Turning verbs into nouns. -ning names the action or its result (en betalning, en förändring) and is the most productive; -nad gives a few concrete results (en byggnad); and -ande/-ende is the strange one — the very same form is simultaneously a present participle, an adjective, AND a noun (ett leende = 'a smile', leende = 'smiling'). One form, three jobs.