stiga means "to step" or "to rise". It is one of the most useful strong verbs to know early, because its particle combinations — stiga på, stiga upp, stiga av — cover everyday situations you meet the moment you board a bus or get out of bed. The verb itself is a textbook i–e–i strong verb: the stem vowel runs i (infinitive) → e (past) → i (supine), exactly like bita – bet – bitit and skriva – skrev – skrivit.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stiga | stiger | steg | stigit | stig | Strong (i–e–i) |
This is not a regular verb, so you cannot derive these forms by rule — you memorize them as a set. The present stiger takes the strong -er ending (never -ar). The past steg is the bare strong stem with the shifted vowel and no ending at all — this is the hallmark of a strong preteritum. The supine stigit (the form after har) returns to i and adds -it. The past participle, used adjectivally, is stigen (en stigen sol, "a risen sun"). The imperative is the bare stem stig — note it drops the final -a of the infinitive.
Use 1: stiga på — step in / board / come in
stiga på is what you say to invite someone in, and what you do when you get on a train, bus or plane. As a stand-alone invitation, Stig på! means "Come in!" or "Step right in!" — warmer and more inviting than a plain Kom in.
Stig på, dörren är öppen!
Come in, the door's open! Stig på as a friendly invitation to enter — imperative of stiga på.
Vi steg på tåget i Lund och steg av i Malmö.
We boarded the train in Lund and got off in Malmö. steg på / steg av — the strong past steg used for boarding and alighting.
Skynda dig, alla har redan stigit på bussen.
Hurry up, everyone has already got on the bus. har stigit på — the perfect, supine stigit after har.
Use 2: stiga upp — get up / rise from bed
stiga upp means "to get up" in the morning or "to rise" to your feet. For getting out of bed it competes with the more casual gå upp, but stiga upp is the neutral, slightly more deliberate choice and the one you will see in any description of a daily routine.
Jag stiger upp klockan sex varje morgon.
I get up at six every morning. stiger upp — present, describing a daily routine.
Hon steg upp och gick fram till fönstret.
She got up and walked over to the window. steg upp — strong past, rising to one's feet.
Vi har stigit upp tidigt hela veckan.
We've been getting up early all week. har stigit upp — the perfect of the get-up sense.
Use 3: stiga av — get off / alight
stiga av is the natural counterpart to stiga på: you stiga på a vehicle to board and stiga av to get off. On public transport in Sweden the recorded announcements use exactly these verbs.
Stig av vid nästa hållplats, så är du framme.
Get off at the next stop and you'll be there. Stig av — imperative, the standard transport instruction.
Förlåt, jag ska stiga av här.
Sorry, I need to get off here. stiga av — the polite phrase for squeezing past on a crowded bus.
Use 4: priserna stiger — prices rise
Without a particle, stiga means "to rise, go up" — of prices, temperatures, water levels, the sun. Here it is intransitive and figurative, and it is the verb every Swedish news bulletin uses for rising costs.
Bensinpriserna stiger igen den här veckan.
Petrol prices are rising again this week. priserna stiger — the 'rise / go up' sense, no particle.
Temperaturen steg snabbt under eftermiddagen.
The temperature rose quickly during the afternoon. steg — strong past, of a measurable quantity rising.
A note for English speakers
English splits this single Swedish verb across several words — step, get on, get up, get off, rise — so the hard part is not the conjugation but matching the right particle. Remember the pair: på for getting onto something (and for inviting someone in), av for getting off. And unlike English "rise," Swedish stiga is never used for the sun "rising" in casual weather talk where Swedes prefer gå upp (solen går upp); stiga for the sun is literary.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag stigade upp klockan sex.
Incorrect — stiga is strong, so there is no -ade past. The past is steg.
✅ Jag steg upp klockan sex.
I got up at six.
❌ Vi har steg på tåget.
Incorrect — after har you need the supine stigit, not the past steg.
✅ Vi har stigit på tåget.
We've got on the train.
❌ Jag stigar upp tidigt.
Incorrect — strong verbs take -er in the present, not -ar: stiger, not *stigar.
✅ Jag stiger upp tidigt.
I get up early.
❌ Stig på bussen och stig på i Malmö.
Off — to get off you need stiga av, not stiga på twice. på = on, av = off.
✅ Stig på bussen och stig av i Malmö.
Get on the bus and get off in Malmö.
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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 Pattern: i – e – i (skriva, bita)B1 — The cleanest strong class: infinitive i, past e, supine back to i — skriva/skrev/skrivit, bita/bet/bitit, gripa/grep/gripit, stiga/steg/stigit, rida/red/ridit, skina/sken/skinit. This is the same family as English write/wrote/written and bite/bit/bitten, so the cognate intuition transfers with only a vowel adjustment. The trap is regularising (*skrivade) or using the wrong supine vowel.
- Transport and DirectionsA2 — How to talk about getting around in Swedish: travel by vehicle with åka + a bare noun (åka buss, åka tåg) — no article — and the crucial split between gå (= walk, on foot) and åka (= go by vehicle), where English's single 'go' is a false friend. Plus how to ask for and give directions: Hur kommer jag till...?, Gå rakt fram, Sväng till höger.