sjunga is the Swedish verb "to sing," a strong verb of the i–ö–u type. Its principal parts run sjunga – sjöng – sjungit, and they map onto English sing – sang – sung — same family, with the Swedish past taking ö where English takes a. Two things deserve attention: the ö in the past sjöng (learners often expect an a), and the spelling sj-, which represents the Swedish sje-sound (a soft, breathy "hw/sh"-like consonant), not an s plus a j.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sjunga | sjunger | sjöng | sjungit | sjung | Group 4 (strong), i–ö–u |
Track the vowel: infinitive and present u in spelling but the i-class core (sjunga, sjunger), the past takes ö (sjöng), and the supine takes u (sjungit). The signature surprise is the ö of sjöng — it is not a (as the English cognate sang might suggest) and not the u of the supine. The agreeing past participle is sjungen / sjunget / sjungna.
Hon sjunger i kören varje torsdag.
She sings in the choir every Thursday. sjunger — present.
Vi sjöng hela vägen hem i bilen.
We sang the whole way home in the car. sjöng — past, vowel ö.
Har du sjungit den här låten förut?
Have you sung this song before? har sjungit — perfect, supine vowel u.
Use 1: present, past and perfect
The three tenses follow the principal parts. The present sjunger covers "sing" and "am singing." The past sjöng is a bare vowel-changed stem — note the ö. The perfect is har sjungit; the pluperfect is hade sjungit.
Fåglarna sjunger redan klockan fyra på morgonen.
The birds are already singing at four in the morning. Present sjunger.
Barnen sjöng en sång för mormor på hennes födelsedag.
The children sang a song for grandma on her birthday. sjöng — simple past with ö.
Kören hade sjungit klart innan vi hann fram.
The choir had finished singing before we got there. hade sjungit — pluperfect, supine sjungit.
Use 2: the sjöng past — watch the ö
This is the point to drill. The English cognate sang tempts learners into writing sjang, but the Swedish past is sjöng, with ö. Store the chant sjunga, sjöng, sjungit and let the ö sit only in the middle. (It belongs to the same small i–ö–u group as sjunka → sjönk → sjunkit, "sink.")
Vem var det som sjöng så vackert nyss?
Who was it that just sang so beautifully? sjöng — the ö in the past.
På bröllopet sjöng alla gästerna tillsammans.
At the wedding all the guests sang together. sjöng again — keep the ö.
Use 3: the particle sjunga med
The particle med gives sjunga med, "sing along" — to join in with a song that's already playing or being sung.
Alla sjöng med i refrängen.
Everyone sang along in the chorus. sjunga med — join in, here in the past sjöng med.
Du får gärna sjunga med om du kan texten.
Feel free to sing along if you know the words. sjunga med, present infinitive.
Vi har sjungit med på den där sången hundra gånger.
We've sung along to that song a hundred times. har sjungit med — supine sjungit.
A note on the i–ö–u pair
sjunga belongs to a small group whose past takes ö rather than the a its English cognate would suggest. Its closest companion is sjunka – sjönk – sjunkit ("sink"), which behaves identically: present with the i-class core, past in ö, supine in u. English sink/sank/sunk shows the same family resemblance as sing/sang/sung, but Swedish rounds the past vowel to ö in both. Keep the two chants side by side — sjunga, sjöng, sjungit and sjunka, sjönk, sjunkit — and the ö stops feeling arbitrary.
Båten sjönk och vi sjöng en sorgsen visa.
The boat sank and we sang a mournful song. sjönk and sjöng — the same ö past pattern.
Common Mistakes
❌ Vi sjungade en sång.
Incorrect — sjunga is strong and takes no -ade ending. The past is the vowel-changed sjöng.
✅ Vi sjöng en sång.
We sang a song.
❌ Hon har sjöng vackert.
Incorrect — after har you need the supine sjungit, not the past sjöng.
✅ Hon har sjungit vackert.
She has sung beautifully.
❌ Vi sjang hela kvällen. (expecting the English a)
Incorrect — the Swedish past is sjöng with ö, not sjang. Don't transfer the a from English 'sang'.
✅ Vi sjöng hela kvällen.
We sang all evening.
❌ Jag har sjöngit med. (mixing past and supine)
Incorrect — the supine is sjungit with u, not the past's ö.
✅ Jag har sjungit med.
I've sung along.
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.
- Supine vs Past ParticipleB1 — The single Swedish verb-form distinction English has no equivalent for: the supine (har skrivit — fixed, invariable, only after ha) versus the past participle (en skriven bok, ett skrivet brev, skrivna böcker — fully agreeing, used as adjective and in the passive). English collapses both into one '-en' word; Swedish splits them, and confusing the two (*har skriven, *en skrivit bok) is a hallmark learner error.