öka means "to increase." Its most useful feature for an English speaker is that it works in both directions with the same form: you can öka something (make it bigger) and a thing can öka on its own (get bigger). English splits this into "increase X" vs. "X rises / goes up"; Swedish uses one verb. It is a fully regular Group 1 verb.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| öka | ökar | ökade | ökat | öka | Group 1 |
The pattern is the standard Group 1 one: present stem plus -r (öka → ökar); past -ade (ökade); supine -at (ökat); imperative the bare stem (Öka!). No vowel change, no subject agreement.
Use 1: transitive — increase something
Used transitively, öka takes a direct object: you increase the speed, the price, the dose, the pressure.
Föraren ökade farten på motorvägen.
The driver increased the speed on the motorway. öka farten — transitive, farten as direct object, past tense.
Vi måste öka takten om vi ska hinna.
We have to pick up the pace if we're going to make it in time. öka takten — increase the tempo.
Företaget har ökat sina priser igen.
The company has raised its prices again. har ökat — perfect, supine ökat, with a direct object (sina priser).
Use 2: intransitive — rise, go up
Used without an object, öka means the subject itself goes up — prices rise, numbers grow, risk increases. The same verb form does the work English does with "rise, grow, go up." This two-way flexibility is worth dwelling on: an English speaker instinctively wants one verb for "make bigger" and another for "get bigger," and may even reach for a reflexive (öka sig) by analogy with other languages. Swedish needs neither — the presence or absence of an object tells you which reading applies.
Priserna ökar varje år.
Prices rise every year. ökar — intransitive, no object; the subject does the increasing.
Risken ökade dramatiskt under vintern.
The risk increased dramatically over the winter. ökade — intransitive past.
Antalet besökare har ökat kraftigt sedan i fjol.
The number of visitors has grown sharply since last year. har ökat — intransitive perfect, no object.
öka på
The particle phrase öka på intensifies the action — "step up, add to, crank up." It often appears with takten or farten in the sense of "really get a move on."
Nu ökar vi på takten — vi är sena!
Let's step up the pace now — we're late! öka på — crank it up.
Du måste öka på lite om du vill hinna i tid.
You need to step it up a bit if you want to make it on time. öka på — add to the effort, get a move on.
The noun en ökning, and the opposite minska
The related noun is en ökning ("an increase, a rise"): en kraftig ökning ("a sharp increase"), en ökning av antalet ("an increase in the number"). The opposite verb is minska ("to decrease, reduce"), which mirrors öka exactly — also Group 1, also both transitive and intransitive.
Statistiken visar en tydlig ökning av antalet resenärer.
The statistics show a clear increase in the number of travellers. en ökning — the noun; av introduces what increased.
Försäljningen ökade i januari men minskade i februari.
Sales rose in January but fell in February. öka and its opposite minska side by side, both intransitive.
Common Mistakes
❌ Priserna öker varje år. (Group 2 ending)
Incorrect — öka is Group 1, so the present is ökar (-ar), not *öker (-er).
✅ Priserna ökar varje år.
Prices rise every year.
❌ Risken ökde under vintern. (bare -de)
Incorrect — Group 1 takes the full -ade. The past is ökade, not *ökde.
✅ Risken ökade under vintern.
The risk increased over the winter.
❌ Antalet besökare har öka. (infinitive after har)
Incorrect — after har you need the supine ökat, not the infinitive öka.
✅ Antalet besökare har ökat.
The number of visitors has increased.
❌ Företaget ökade. (meaning the company itself grew, when you mean it raised prices)
Ambiguous — if you mean the company raised something, add the object: Företaget ökade priserna. Bare ökade with a company subject reads as 'the company itself grew'.
✅ Företaget ökade priserna.
The company raised the prices.
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- 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.
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- The -s PassiveB1 — The synthetic -s passive adds -s to the verb across all tenses (present läses/öppnas, past lästes/öppnades, supine har lästs/öppnats, infinitive ska läsas). It is the DEFAULT Swedish passive — the form on signs, rules, recipes and instructions (Dörren öppnas automatiskt; Serveras kallt) — far more frequent than English speakers expect.