röka (to smoke) | Swedish Grammar

röka means "to smoke." It covers both senses English has — smoking a cigarette and smoking (curing) food — and its supine doubles as a handy adjective: rökt lax, "smoked salmon." It's a clean Group 2 -te verb, and you'll meet it constantly on signs and in the everyday prohibition Du får inte röka.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
röka	röker	rökte	rökt	rök	Group 2 (-te)

The stem is rök-, ending in the voiceless k sound, so the past takes -te: rökte, never rökde. The present is röker, the supine rökt (har rökt, "have smoked"), and the imperative the bare stem rök! It conjugates exactly like köpa and röka's neighbour tycka — same voiceless-stem logic.

Use 1: smoking (tobacco)

The basic sense: to smoke a cigarette, a cigar, a pipe.

Han röker en cigarett ute på balkongen.

He's smoking a cigarette out on the balcony. röker — the present.

Jag rökte i tjugo år innan jag slutade.

I smoked for twenty years before I quit. rökte — the regular -te past.

Hon har aldrig rökt en enda cigarett.

She has never smoked a single cigarette. har rökt — perfect, supine after har.

Use 2: the prohibition — Du får inte röka

You'll hear and read this constantly. "You may not smoke" uses the modal får inte ("may not / are not allowed to") plus the bare infinitive röka. The public sign forms use the noun rökning ("smoking"):

Du får inte röka här inne.

You're not allowed to smoke in here. får inte + infinitive röka — the standard prohibition.

Rökning förbjuden.

Smoking prohibited. The standard sign — noun rökning + förbjuden ('forbidden').

Hela restaurangen är rökfri numera.

The whole restaurant is smoke-free now. rökfri — the common 'smoke-free' compound.

Use 3: rökt as an adjective — smoked food

röka also means to cure food with smoke. The supine rökt then works as a past participle / adjective: "smoked." This is everywhere on Swedish menus.

Vi åt rökt lax med dill till middag.

We had smoked salmon with dill for dinner. rökt as an adjective before lax.

Skinkan röks långsamt över alved.

The ham is smoked slowly over alder wood. röks — the -s passive, 'is smoked'.

Den rökta korven smakade fantastiskt.

The smoked sausage tasted fantastic. rökta — the adjective in its definite/plural form.

A note on quitting and second-hand smoke

Two collocations come up so often around röka that they're worth meeting together. "To quit smoking" is sluta röka (literally "stop to smoke," modal-like sluta + bare infinitive), and "passive / second-hand smoke" is passiv rökning — the noun rökning again, the same one you see on the prohibition signs.

Hon bestämde sig för att sluta röka i nyår.

She decided to quit smoking at New Year. sluta röka — 'quit smoking', sluta + bare infinitive.

Passiv rökning är farligt för barn.

Second-hand smoke is dangerous for children. passiv rökning — the noun rökning, as on the signs.

Common Mistakes

❌ Han rökde en cigarett. (bare -de)

Incorrect — the voiceless k-stem takes -te: rökte, never *rökde.

✅ Han rökte en cigarett.

He smoked a cigarette.

❌ Du kan inte röka här.

Off in meaning — kan inte = 'are unable to'; the prohibition is får inte ('not allowed to').

✅ Du får inte röka här.

You're not allowed to smoke here.

❌ Vi åt rökad lax.

Incorrect — röka is Group 2, so the participle is rökt, not the Group 1 *rökad.

✅ Vi åt rökt lax.

We had smoked salmon.

❌ Rökande förbjuden.

Wrong noun — the sign uses rökning ('smoking'), not the present participle rökande.

✅ Rökning förbjuden.

Smoking prohibited.

💡

röka is a model voiceless-k verb: the past is rökte (-te), the supine rökt. Watch the two faces of the supine: har rökt ("have smoked") and the adjective rökt lax ("smoked salmon"). And memorise the prohibition wholesale — Du får inte röka — because får inte, not kan inte, is how Swedish says "not allowed to."

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