snöa (to snow) | Swedish Grammar

snöa means "to snow." It is a perfectly regular Group 1 verb, so its forms hold no surprises — but it behaves in one special way that English speakers must watch for: it is impersonal. Weather just happens; there is no real "doer." So Swedish supplies a placeholder subject, det, exactly the way English supplies "it" in "it's snowing."

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
snöa	snöar	snöade	snöat	—	Group 1

The forms are derived purely by rule. Present is stem + -r (snöar), past is stem + -de in its full -ade shape (snöade), and the supine — the form after har — ends in -at (snöat). There is no imperative in practice: you cannot command the sky to snow, so Snöa! never occurs in normal use. Note the ö throughout — it comes straight from the noun snö ("snow") and must never be written as a plain o.

Use: the impersonal det

The defining feature of snöa is that its subject is always det — a "dummy" pronoun that fills the subject slot but refers to nothing. This is identical to English "it" in "it's raining," "it's snowing." You never say jag snöar or himlen snöar; the only natural subject is det.

Det snöar.

It's snowing. The dummy subject det is obligatory — there is no real 'doer'.

Titta, det snöar ute!

Look, it's snowing outside! Everyday present tense, det snöar.

Det snöade hela natten.

It snowed all night. snöade — the regular Group 1 past.

Det har snöat sedan i morse.

It has been snowing since this morning. har snöat — the perfect, supine snöat after har.

Because the subject carries no meaning, det simply stays put. When something else comes first in the sentence — an adverb or time phrase — det moves to right after the verb, following Swedish's strict verb-second (V2) rule.

I går snöade det rejält.

Yesterday it snowed heavily. The time phrase comes first, so the order flips: snöade det.

På fjället snöar det redan i oktober.

In the mountains it already snows in October. After the fronted phrase, snöar det.

snöa in — to be snowed in

The particle verb snöa in means "to be snowed in" — blocked by snow. Here it is most often used in the passive-like bli insnöad or as a past participle, but snöa in itself appears with a real subject in this extended sense.

Vi blev insnöade i stugan i tre dagar.

We were snowed in at the cabin for three days. The particle in gives the 'trapped by snow' sense.

Om det fortsätter så här snöar vägen igen.

If it keeps up like this, the road will get snowed over. snöa igen — close in / cover over with snow.

The family: snö and snöig

Around the verb sit two words you will constantly need. The noun is snö ("snow") — an en-word: en snö is unusual since snow is normally uncountable, but snön ("the snow") is everyday. The adjective is snöig ("snowy"). All three share the ö.

Snön ligger djup i trädgården.

The snow lies deep in the garden. The noun snö, definite snön.

Det var en snöig och kall december. (det = formal subject)

It was a snowy and cold December. The adjective snöig agrees with the en-word december.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag snöar. / Himlen snöar.

Incorrect — snöa is impersonal. There is no real subject; you must use the dummy det.

✅ Det snöar.

It's snowing.

❌ Det snöer.

Incorrect — snöa is Group 1, so the present is snöar (-ar), not the Group 2 *snöer (-er).

✅ Det snöar.

It's snowing.

❌ I går det snöade.

Wrong word order — after a fronted time phrase the verb must come second, so it's snöade det, not *det snöade.

✅ I går snöade det.

Yesterday it snowed.

❌ Det har snöa hela dagen.

Incorrect — after har you need the supine snöat, not the bare infinitive snöa.

✅ Det har snöat hela dagen.

It has been snowing all day.

❌ Det snoar.

Incorrect — the stem keeps its ö from snö. Writing a plain o changes the word entirely.

✅ Det snöar.

It's snowing.

💡

snöa works just like regna ("to rain"): both are impersonal weather verbs that take the dummy subject det and conjugate as plain Group 1 verbs — Det snöar, det snöade, det har snöat. Keep the ö (from the noun snö) in every form, and remember that after a fronted phrase the order flips to snöar det.

Now practice Swedish

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Swedish→

Principal parts

Use: the impersonal det

snöa in — to be snowed in

The family: snö and snöig

Common Mistakes

Now practice Swedish

Related Topics