lyckas means "to succeed" — and, very often, "to manage to" do something. It is a deponent s-verb: it always carries an -s, yet its meaning is completely active, never passive. Like hoppas, its present tense is identical to the infinitive (lyckas), the same for every person. The most useful pattern is lyckas + infinitive ("manage to do X"), which is how Swedish expresses pulling something off. Its mirror-image opposite is misslyckas ("fail"). You never strip the -s.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lyckas | lyckas | lyckades | lyckats | (rare) | deponent (s-verb) |
This is a regular weak deponent carrying the -s throughout. The present lyckas is exactly the infinitive lyckas — there is no *lyckar. The past lyckades and the supine lyckats (used after har/hade) keep the -s too. One form covers every subject: jag lyckas, du lyckas, det lyckas. An imperative is essentially never used — you can't command someone to succeed — so that slot is empty in practice.
Det lyckas inte alltid på första försöket.
It doesn't always work on the first try. lyckas = present, identical to the infinitive.
Till slut lyckades vi hitta parkering.
In the end we managed to find parking. lyckades = past + infinitive ('manage to').
Hon har äntligen lyckats med sitt projekt.
She has finally succeeded with her project. lyckats = supine, after har.
Use 1: lyckas + infinitive — manage to do
This is the workhorse pattern. lyckas followed by a bare infinitive means "manage to / succeed in doing" — you achieved the action, often against some difficulty. English uses "manage to"; Swedish uses lyckas + infinitive directly (no att and no preposition).
Jag lyckades öppna burken till slut.
I managed to open the jar in the end. lyckades + infinitive (öppna) — note: no att between them.
Vi lyckades fånga sista tåget.
We managed to catch the last train. lyckas + infinitive again — straight to the verb.
Hur lyckades du laga den så snabbt?
How did you manage to fix it so fast? In a question: Hur lyckades du + infinitive?
Use 2: lyckas med — succeed at / with (a thing)
When the achievement is a noun — a task, a project, an exam — Swedish uses lyckas med ("succeed at / with"). The preposition med introduces the thing you pulled off.
Han lyckades med provet trots att han knappt pluggat.
He passed the exam even though he'd barely studied. lyckas med + a noun (the task).
Vi lyckas inte riktigt med kakorna — de blir alltid brända.
We never quite get the cookies right — they always burn. lyckas med, present.
Hon lyckades med konststycket att göra alla nöjda.
She pulled off the feat of pleasing everyone. lyckas med + noun, slightly idiomatic.
Use 3: Det lyckades — it worked; and the opposite misslyckas
Impersonally, Det lyckades means "it worked / it came off." And the built-in opposite of lyckas is misslyckas ("fail"), also a deponent — same forms, same -s rule: misslyckas / misslyckades / misslyckats.
Vi försökte starta bilen igen — och den här gången lyckades det.
We tried to start the car again — and this time it worked. Det lyckades = 'it worked / came off'.
Första försöket misslyckades, men det andra gick bra.
The first attempt failed, but the second went fine. misslyckades = past of misslyckas, the opposite of lyckas.
Om planen misslyckas har vi ingen reservplan.
If the plan fails, we have no backup. misslyckas, present — same deponent shape as lyckas.
- noun = "succeed at X." The present is identical to the infinitive — there is no *lyckar — and the -s never drops. Its opposite, misslyckas ("fail"), is a deponent too and behaves exactly the same way.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag lyckade öppna den.
Incorrect — the past keeps the -s: lyckades, not *lyckade. The -s never drops.
✅ Jag lyckades öppna den.
I managed to open it.
❌ Han lyckar alltid med allt.
Incorrect — there is no -ar present; the present of lyckas IS lyckas.
✅ Han lyckas alltid med allt.
He always succeeds at everything.
❌ Vi lyckades att hitta en taxi.
Off — lyckas takes a bare infinitive, with no att: lyckades hitta, not *lyckades att hitta.
✅ Vi lyckades hitta en taxi.
We managed to find a taxi.
❌ Hon har lyckat med provet.
Incorrect — the supine keeps the -s: lyckats, not *lyckat.
✅ Hon har lyckats med provet.
She has passed the exam.
❌ Planen misslyckade tyvärr.
Incorrect — misslyckas is a deponent too; its past is misslyckades, with the -s.
✅ Planen misslyckades tyvärr.
The plan failed, unfortunately.
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- Deponent Verbs (s-verbs That Aren't Passive)B1 — A small but extremely common set of Swedish verbs that always end in -s yet mean something fully active: hoppas ('hope'), trivas ('feel at home'), lyckas ('succeed'), minnas ('remember'), andas ('breathe'), and — most importantly — finnas, the everyday verb for 'there is'. You never strip the -s, and you use one of these constantly without realising it forms a category.
- Using the Verb ReferenceA2 — How to read the single-verb reference cards and the principal-parts citation system that underpins them. Every Swedish verb is cited as a short chain — infinitive – present – preteritum – supine – (past participle) — because every other form is derivable from those parts. This page decodes one weak verb (tala – talar – talade – talat) and one strong verb (skriva – skriver – skrev – skrivit – skriven), explains the conjugation-group labels (1/2/3/4), and gives a key to everything on a card.
- Existential Sentences (det finns / det är)A2 — How to say 'there is / there are' in Swedish — and why it splits into two constructions English merges into one. Det finns marks pure existence ('is there such a thing?': Det finns en lösning), while det är and presentational verbs mark located presence ('is something here right now?': Det är någon vid dörren / Det står en man där). The dummy subject is det, the real ('logical') subject follows the verb — and it must be INDEFINITE.