spara (to save) | Swedish Grammar

spara means "to save" — and it covers all the same ground the English word does: saving money, saving a file, and saving time or effort. It is a textbook Group 1 verb, so every form is derived by rule with no surprises.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
spara	sparar	sparade	sparat	spara	Group 1

Everything is mechanical. The present is the stem plus -r (spara → sparar); the past adds -de to that (sparade); the supine — the form after har — ends in -at (sparat); and the imperative is the bare stem (Spara! "Save!"). There is no stem change and no agreement with the subject: jag sparar, hon sparar, de sparar are identical.

Use 1: saving money

The most common everyday use is saving money. The thing you save is a plain direct object — spara pengar ("save money"), with no preposition.

Vi sparar pengar till en ny bil.

We're saving money for a new car. spara pengar — the present, money as a direct object, till for the goal.

Jag sparade tusen kronor i månaden förra året.

I saved a thousand kronor a month last year. sparade — the regular Group 1 past.

Hon har sparat i flera år för att kunna resa jorden runt.

She has saved for several years to be able to travel around the world. har sparat — the perfect, supine sparat after har.

Use 2: saving a file or document

In the computer sense, spara is exactly "save" — saving a file, a document, your work.

Glöm inte att spara dokumentet innan du stänger datorn.

Don't forget to save the document before you close the computer. spara dokumentet — the file as a direct object.

Jag sparade filen på skrivbordet.

I saved the file on the desktop. sparade — past tense, file as object.

Use 3: saving time, effort, and things for later

spara also covers saving time or effort, and keeping something for later — the sense of "set aside, hold on to."

Om vi tar tåget sparar vi mycket tid.

If we take the train we'll save a lot of time. spara tid — save time.

Spara lite kaka till imorgon!

Save a bit of cake for tomorrow! Imperative spara, till for what it's saved for.

spara på — be sparing with / conserve

With the preposition på, spara shifts in meaning to "be sparing with, conserve, go easy on" something — using less of it on purpose.

Vi måste spara på vattnet i sommar.

We have to conserve water this summer. spara på = use sparingly, not 'put water in the bank'.

Du borde spara på krafterna inför loppet.

You should conserve your energy ahead of the race. spara på krafterna — go easy, save your strength.

Not the same as rädda

English "save" covers two ideas Swedish keeps apart. spara is only the set-aside / store-up sense (money, a file, time). For rescuing someone or something from danger — saving a life, saving a drowning swimmer, saving a team from defeat — Swedish uses a completely different verb, rädda. You can never spara a person, and competitors routinely leave this gap to chance.

Brandmannen räddade barnet ur det brinnande huset.

The firefighter saved the child from the burning house. rädda, not spara — this is rescue, not storing up.

The opposite: slösa

The natural opposite of spara is slösa ("to waste, squander"). Where spara sets resources aside, slösa throws them away — slösa pengar, slösa tid, slösa med something. The related noun for the activity of saving is ett sparande ("saving, the act of saving"), as in ett långsiktigt sparande ("long-term saving").

Sluta slösa pengar — försök spara i stället.

Stop wasting money — try to save instead. slösa is the antonym of spara.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag sparer pengar varje månad. (Group 2 ending)

Incorrect — spara is Group 1, so the present is sparar (-ar), not *sparer (-er).

✅ Jag sparar pengar varje månad.

I save money every month.

❌ Förra året sparde jag mycket. (bare -de)

Incorrect — Group 1 takes the full -ade. The past is sparade, not *sparde.

✅ Förra året sparade jag mycket.

Last year I saved a lot.

❌ Vi måste spara vattnet. (wanting the 'conserve' sense)

Off — to mean 'use less / conserve', you need på: spara på vattnet. Plain spara vattnet means 'keep the water (for later)'.

✅ Vi måste spara på vattnet.

We have to conserve water.

❌ Har du spara dokumentet? (infinitive after har)

Incorrect — after har you need the supine, not the infinitive: har sparat.

✅ Har du sparat dokumentet?

Have you saved the document?

❌ Livräddaren sparade simmaren. (rescue sense)

Wrong verb — spara is store-up, not rescue. To save someone from danger you need rädda: räddade simmaren.

✅ Livräddaren räddade simmaren.

The lifeguard saved the swimmer.

💡

spara is fully regular Group 1: spara – sparar – sparade – sparat. Plain spara = save (money, a file, time, things for later); spara på = conserve / be sparing with. Its opposite is slösa ("to waste"). For the rescue sense of English "save", use rädda, never spara. The activity of saving is ett sparande.

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