ska is one of the busiest verbs in Swedish. At heart it is "shall / will," but it carries a load of meaning English splits across several words: the intended or planned future (Jag ska resa, "I'm going to travel"), obligation/instruction (Du ska göra det, "you're to do it"), and — the one learners miss — hearsay (Han ska vara rik, "he's said to be rich"). Like every modal it takes a bare infinitive and never agrees for person. Its past, skulle, doubles as "would" and "was going to." This card untangles its senses.
Principal parts and forms
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| skola (archaic) | ska / skall (formal) | skulle | skolat (rare) | (none) | modal, irregular/defective |
In modern Swedish the present is ska; the longer skall is now purely formal — found in laws, contracts, and very formal writing, but ska dominates everywhere else, including ordinary newspapers. The infinitive skola is archaic — you will not use it; the supine skolat is rare. The form you must own is the past skulle. Everything is followed by a bare infinitive, and ska is the same for every subject.
Jag ska resa till Norge i sommar.
I'm going to travel to Norway this summer. ska + resa — bare infinitive, a planned future.
Enligt avtalet skall hyran betalas den 1:a varje månad.
According to the agreement, the rent shall be paid on the 1st of each month. skall (formal) — typical of legal/contract language.
Vi visste inte att det skulle bli så dyrt.
We didn't know it was going to be so expensive. skulle = past of ska ('was going to').
Use 1: intention and the planned future
The most common sense is a future that is intended, decided, or planned — not a neutral prediction, but something someone means to do. This is where ska differs from kommer att (the neutral future): ska implies a plan or a will behind the event.
Vi ska gifta oss i juni.
We're getting married in June. ska = a decided plan, not a guess about the future.
Vad ska du göra i helgen?
What are you going to do at the weekend? Asking about someone's plans/intentions.
Jag ska bara hämta min jacka, sen går vi.
I'll just grab my jacket, then we'll go. ska for an immediate intention.
Use 2: obligation and instructions ("you're to…")
ska also gives instructions and states obligations — what someone is supposed to or required to do. It is firmer than bör ("ought to") and common in rules, recipes, and directions.
Du ska vara här klockan åtta, inte en minut senare.
You're to be here at eight, not a minute later. ska = a firm instruction/obligation.
Man ska tvätta händerna innan man lagar mat.
You should wash your hands before cooking. A general rule, framed with ska.
Use 3: hearsay — "is said to"
This is the sense English speakers overlook. ska (and ska ha + supine for the past) reports hearsay — something said or rumoured, which the speaker is not vouching for. Han ska vara rik does not mean "he shall be rich"; it means "he's said to be rich / apparently he's rich."
Han ska vara väldigt rik, har jag hört.
He's supposed to be very rich, I've heard. ska vara = 'is said to be' — pure hearsay, not the speaker's claim.
Hon ska ha flyttat till Berlin.
She's said to have moved to Berlin. / Apparently she's moved to Berlin. ska ha + supine = reported past.
Den nya restaurangen ska vara jättebra.
The new restaurant is supposed to be really good. Reporting a reputation, not first-hand knowledge.
Context tells the senses apart: with a first-person subject (jag ska), it is almost always intention; with a third-person subject and a stative verb (han ska vara…), hearsay becomes likely. When in doubt, ask whether the speaker is reporting their own plan or repeating what others say.
Use 4: skulle — the conditional and future-in-the-past
The past skulle does two jobs. As a conditional it means "would" (Jag skulle vilja…, "I would like…"); as a future-in-the-past it means "was going to," reporting a future seen from a past vantage point. Both flow naturally from skulle being the past of ska.
Jag skulle vilja boka ett rum för två nätter.
I'd like to book a room for two nights. skulle vilja = the polite conditional 'would like'.
Han sa att han skulle komma klockan åtta.
He said he would come at eight. skulle = 'was going to' — future-in-the-past, reporting a past statement.
Common Mistakes
❌ Det ska regna imorgon. (a neutral weather forecast)
Off for a plan-free prediction — the weather has no intention. Use kommer att for neutral futures.
✅ Det kommer att regna imorgon.
It's going to rain tomorrow.
❌ Jag ska att resa till Norge.
Incorrect — ska is a modal; it takes a bare infinitive with no 'att'.
✅ Jag ska resa till Norge.
I'm going to travel to Norway.
❌ Han skall vara rik. (read as a command)
Don't read the hearsay 'ska' as obligation — 'Han ska vara rik' means 'he's SAID to be rich', not 'he must be rich'.
✅ Han ska vara rik. (= han lär vara rik)
He's said to be rich.
❌ Han sa att han ska komma. (reporting a past statement)
Incorrect — after a past 'sa', the future shifts to past: skulle, not ska.
✅ Han sa att han skulle komma.
He said he would come.
❌ Vi skola resa imorgon.
Archaic — the infinitive 'skola' is no longer used as a present. The present is ska.
✅ Vi ska resa imorgon.
We're going to travel tomorrow.
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- The Future with skaA2 — ska + a bare infinitive (no att) expresses the intended future: a plan, decision, or arrangement — Jag ska handla imorgon, Vi ska gifta oss. Because ska always carries a whiff of will and intention, it slides naturally into obligation and command (Du ska göra dina läxor), and it is WRONG for impersonal predictions like weather (use kommer att). The formal/older spelling is skall.
- The Conditional with skulleB1 — skulle + infinitive is Swedish for 'would'. It builds hypotheticals (Jag skulle resa om jag hade pengar), past counterfactuals with ha + supine (Jag skulle ha stannat), and ultra-polite requests (Skulle du kunna…?). The twist: skulle is just the past tense of ska, doing double duty as both 'would' and 'was going to' — one form for two jobs English splits.
- böra, ska, lär (should, ought, supposedly)B1 — The weaker, evidential modals. borde is everyday 'should/ought to' for advice; bör is its slightly firmer present. But ska and lär do something English has no single word for: they report hearsay — 'he is said to be rich', 'it's supposedly going to be cold' — marking a claim as something you've heard, not something you've verified.
- ska vs kommer attA2 — Swedish has two main ways to talk about the future, and they aren't interchangeable. ska expresses intention, a plan, a decision, or a promise — someone has WILLED it (Jag ska sluta röka, 'I'm going to quit smoking'). kommer att is a neutral prediction or an inevitable outcome no one controls (Det kommer att regna, 'It's going to rain'). The test: who controls the outcome? A decider → ska. An external inevitability → kommer att.