studera (to study) | Swedish Grammar

studera means "to study" — the neutral, slightly formal word you'll see on university websites, CVs, and official forms. It is a regular Group 1 verb, and it has two everyday rivals you must know: plugga (informal "to cram/study") and läsa (literally "to read," but also "to study a subject"). Knowing when to reach for each is half of using studera well.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
studera	studerar	studerade	studerat	studera	Group 1

Regular throughout: present studerar, past studerade, supine studerat (har studerat), imperative Studera!. No vowel change, no subject agreement. Like nearly every Swedish verb ending in -era, studera is Group 1 — so you can predict its past (-erade) and supine (-erat) with total confidence.

One source-language trap before we start: English blurs "study" and "learn," but Swedish keeps them apart. studera (and plugga, läsa) is the activity — sitting down with the material. lära sig is the result — coming to know something. You studerar all evening in order to lära dig the grammar. Don't reach for studera when you mean "learn how to do something."

Use 1: study a subject

studera takes the subject directly, with no preposition and no article — studera medicin, studera juridik, studera historia.

Hon studerar medicin i Lund.

She is studying medicine in Lund. studerar + the subject, no preposition, no article.

Jag studerade ekonomi innan jag bytte bana.

I studied economics before I changed careers. studerade — the regular Group 1 past.

Han har studerat svenska i tre år.

He has studied Swedish for three years. har studerat — perfect, supine studerat after har.

Use 2: study at an institution

To say where you study, use studera på + the place (på universitetet, på högskolan).

Vi studerar på universitetet i Uppsala.

We study at the university in Uppsala. studera på + the institution.

Vill du studera utomlands nästa år?

Do you want to study abroad next year? studera utomlands, a common collocation.

Use 3: study closely, examine

Beyond academics, studera keeps its Latin root meaning "to examine closely / scrutinise." You can studera a map, a menu, or someone's face.

Hon studerade kartan noga innan vi gav oss av.

She studied the map carefully before we set off. studera = examine closely.

Han satt och studerade menyn i tysthet. (slightly formal)

He sat studying the menu in silence. (slightly formal) studera here = peruse, scrutinise.

studera vs plugga vs läsa

These three overlap, but the register and nuance differ — and choosing wrongly marks you as a learner.

Verb	Register	Sense	Example
studera	neutral / formal	study (academic, official)	studera juridik
plugga	informal / colloquial	study, cram, revise	plugga till provet
läsa	neutral	read; also 'study a subject'	läsa medicin

So a student says casually Jag pluggar ("I'm studying/cramming"), writes Jag studerar vid Stockholms universitet on a form, and might say either Jag läser juridik or Jag studerar juridik — both natural — for "I'm studying law."

Officiellt studerar jag på KTH, men jag säger oftast att jag pluggar där. (register contrast)

Officially I study at KTH, but I usually just say I'm studying there. (register contrast) studera formal, plugga informal.

studera vs lära sig — activity vs result

Because the studera/lära sig split trips up almost every English speaker, it's worth a pair of examples side by side. studera names the effort; lära sig names what you end up knowing.

Jag studerade hela natten men lärde mig nästan ingenting.

I studied all night but learned almost nothing. studera = the activity, lära sig = the result — they can come apart.

Hon studerar arabiska för att lära sig läsa Koranen.

She's studying Arabic in order to learn to read the Quran. studera the subject, lära sig the skill.

The nouns: studier, en student

The plural noun studier means "studies," and a person studying is en student. Note that studier is almost always plural in this sense — Swedish talks about someone's studier (their course of study as a whole) rather than a single "study."

Hur går det med studierna?

How are your studies going? studierna — definite plural of studier.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag studerer medicin. (Group 2 ending)

Incorrect — studera is Group 1, so the present is studerar (-ar), not *studerer (-er).

✅ Jag studerar medicin.

I'm studying medicine.

❌ Hon studerde i Lund. (bare -de)

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

✅ Hon studerade i Lund.

She studied in Lund.

❌ Jag studerar medicinen.

Off — the subject takes no article: studera medicin, not *studera medicinen. The definite form would mean a specific, particular medicine.

✅ Jag studerar medicin.

I'm studying medicine.

❌ Vi pluggar vid Stockholms universitet. (register mismatch on a form)

Stylistically off in formal writing — on a CV or application, write studerar; save plugga for casual speech.

✅ Vi studerar vid Stockholms universitet. (formal)

We study at Stockholm University. (formal)

💡

studera is the neutral/formal "study" — use it on forms and CVs (studera juridik). In everyday speech, Swedes say plugga (informal), and läsa also means "study a subject" (läsa medicin). All three are common; just match the register. studera – studerar – studerade – studerat, fully Group 1.

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