supa is the colloquial, distinctly negative Swedish verb for boozing — drinking alcohol heavily, getting drunk, going on a bender. It is not a neutral synonym for "drink": where English "drink" maps to neutral dricka, supa always carries judgement, the way English "booze it up," "guzzle," or "hit the bottle" does. It conjugates strong on the u–ö–u pattern: supa – söp – supit. This is an advanced, register-marked word: you must recognise it, but you should deploy it knowingly.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| supa | super | söp | supit | sup | Group 4 (strong), u–ö–u |
Read the vowels across the row: infinitive and present keep u (supa, super), the past drops to ö (söp), and the supine returns to u (supit). That is the u–ö–u skeleton — the same shape as bjuda – bjöd – bjudit and njuta – njöt – njutit. Note the present super with an -er ending; do not confuse it with the English-derived adjective "super." The agreeing participle is supen ("drunk, sozzled"), as in en supen gubbe.
Grannen super varje fredag och stör hela huset.
The neighbour boozes every Friday and disturbs the whole building. super — present, judgemental.
De söp hela natten och missade morgontåget.
They drank heavily all night and missed the morning train. söp — strong past, vowel ö.
Han har supit bort både jobbet och familjen.
He's drunk away both his job and his family. har supit — perfect, supine vowel u.
Use 1: present, past and perfect
The three tenses follow the principal parts directly: super (present), söp (past), har supit (perfect), hade supit (pluperfect). In every tense the connotation stays negative — this is excess, not a glass of wine with dinner.
Vi söp oss fulla på studentskivan, det erkänner jag.
We got ourselves drunk at the graduation party, I admit it. söp — past, reflexive 'söp oss fulla'.
Hade de inte supit så mycket hade kvällen slutat bättre.
Had they not boozed so much, the evening would have ended better. hade supit — pluperfect in a counterfactual.
Use 2: supa ner sig / supa sig full — "get (oneself) drunk"
The verb is very often reflexive and combined with a particle or result phrase: supa ner sig and supa sig full both mean "to get (oneself) drunk." The reflexive pronoun (mig, dig, sig) agrees with the subject.
Han supade aldrig ner sig på jobbfester. ❌
Note: this is a deliberate wrong form shown for contrast — supa is strong, never 'supade' (see Common Mistakes).
Hon söp ner sig så grundligt att hon inte mindes hemvägen.
She got herself so thoroughly drunk that she didn't remember the way home. söp ner sig — reflexive particle verb in the past.
Lova att inte supa dig full igen ikväll.
Promise not to get yourself drunk again tonight. supa sig full — infinitive after lova att.
Use 3: the noun en sup
The closely related noun en sup means a shot of spirits — a small glass of brännvin or snaps, the kind raised at a kräftskiva (crayfish party) between snapsvisor (drinking songs). It is a synonym of en snaps and en nubbe. So the verb is judgemental, but the noun is festive and entirely everyday.
Vi tog en sup till sillen och sjöng en snapsvisa.
We had a shot of aquavit with the herring and sang a drinking song. en sup — a shot of spirits, neutral/festive.
Han bjöd på en sup brännvin efter middagen.
He offered a shot of aquavit after dinner. en sup brännvin — a measure of spirits.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag har supat tre koppar kaffe imorse.
Wrong word and wrong form — you don't 'supa' coffee, and supa is strong (no -at). For coffee use 'druckit' (dricka).
✅ Jag har druckit tre koppar kaffe imorse.
I've drunk three cups of coffee this morning.
❌ Vi söpade champagne på bröllopet.
Two errors — supa is strong (the past is söp, not 'söpade'), and it's too crude for a wedding toast; use 'drack' (dricka).
✅ Vi drack champagne på bröllopet.
We drank champagne at the wedding.
❌ Skål, vill du dricka en sup till? (as 'verb supa')
Confusion of verb and noun — 'en sup' is the noun (a shot); the verb is 'ta/dricka en sup', and you wouldn't say 'supa en sup'.
✅ Skål, vill du ta en sup till?
Cheers, do you want another shot?
❌ Han super en god flaska vin till maten varje kväll.
Register mismatch — pairing the judgemental supa with 'a good bottle of wine with dinner' is contradictory; use dricker.
✅ Han dricker en god flaska vin till maten varje kväll.
He drinks a good bottle of wine with dinner every evening.
Now practice Swedish
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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 Verbs: Overview and Principal PartsB1 — Strong verbs (Group 4) don't add a past-tense ending — they change their stem vowel across three principal parts: skriva–skrev–skrivit. The vowel moves in recurring patterns (ablaut) that Swedish shares with English: i–a–u is the same machinery as sing–sang–sung. This page teaches you to read principal parts, recognise the classes, and leverage the English cognate vowels so memorisation becomes pattern-recognition.
- Supine: Strong Verbs (-it)B1 — Strong verbs form their supine in -it on a stem whose vowel can differ from BOTH the infinitive and the past tense — skriva / skrev / skrivit, dricka / drack / druckit, sjunga / sjöng / sjungit. So a strong verb has THREE vowel grades, and the supine vowel must be memorised as its own principal part. Don't reuse the past-tense vowel, and don't confuse the supine -it with the participle -en (skrivit vs. skriven).