tala (to speak) | Swedish Grammar

tala means "to speak" — and it is the single best verb to learn first, because it is the model Group 1 verb. Every other regular -a verb in Swedish conjugates exactly like it. If you know the four principal parts of tala, you know the pattern for thousands of verbs.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Preteritum (past)	Supine	Imperative	Group
tala	talar	talade	talat	tala	Group 1

Notice how mechanical this is. The present is the infinitive plus -r (tala → talar). The past adds -de to that (talade). The supine — the form after har — ends in -at (talat). The imperative is simply the bare stem, identical to the infinitive (Tala! "Speak!"). There is no stem change, no vowel shift, and no agreement with the subject: jag talar, hon talar, de talar are all the same form.

Use 1: speaking a language

The most frequent everyday use of tala is "to speak a language." Here the language follows directly, with no preposition and no article.

Jag talar svenska och lite tyska.

I speak Swedish and a little German. talar + the language, no preposition, no article.

Talar du engelska?

Do you speak English? The present talar covers English 'do you speak'.

Hon talade franska flytande redan som barn.

She spoke French fluently already as a child. talade — the regular Group 1 past.

Vi har alltid talat svenska hemma.

We've always spoken Swedish at home. har talat — the perfect, supine talat after har.

Use 2: tala med — speak to someone

To say whom you speak to, Swedish uses tala med ("speak with"), not a direct object. The preposition med literally means "with," and Swedish treats conversation as something done with a person, not to them.

Kan jag få tala med chefen?

May I speak to the manager? tala med — 'speak with', the standard way to ask for someone on the phone.

Jag talade med läkaren igår.

I spoke to the doctor yesterday. talade med — past tense, person introduced by med.

Use 3: tala om — talk about (and 'tell')

tala om has two senses. With a thing, it means "talk about" something. But tala om is also the everyday way to say "tell" someone something — tala om för någon ("tell someone").

Vi talade om semestern hela kvällen.

We talked about the holiday all evening. tala om + topic = 'talk about'.

Kan du tala om för mig var stationen ligger?

Can you tell me where the station is? tala om för någon = 'tell someone' — note för before the person.

Hon har inte talat om för oss vad som hände.

She hasn't told us what happened. har talat om — perfect of the 'tell' construction.

tala vs prata

tala and prata mean almost the same thing, but they differ in register. tala is the slightly more formal, more "proper" word — "to speak." prata is the relaxed, everyday word — "to talk, to chat." In casual conversation, Swedes reach for prata far more often: you'd say Vi pratade länge ("We chatted for a long time") in everyday speech, and save tala for more formal or deliberate contexts (giving a speech, tala inför publik "speak before an audience"). Both are Group 1 and conjugate identically.

Presidenten ska tala i kväll. (formal)

The president will speak tonight. (formal) tala suits the formal, public-address context.

Vi satt och pratade i timmar. (informal)

We sat and chatted for hours. (informal) In casual talk, prata is the natural choice.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag taler svenska. (Group 2 ending)

Incorrect — tala is Group 1, so the present is talar (-ar), not *taler (-er).

✅ Jag talar svenska.

I speak Swedish.

❌ Jag talde med honom. (bare -de)

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

✅ Jag talade med honom.

I spoke with him.

❌ Jag talar med svenska.

Incorrect — to speak a language, no preposition: talar svenska. med is only for the person you speak to.

✅ Jag talar svenska.

I speak Swedish.

❌ Kan jag tala till chefen?

Off — Swedish speaks with a person, not to them: tala med, not *tala till.

✅ Kan jag tala med chefen?

May I speak to the manager?

💡

tala is the model Group 1 verb: tala – talar – talade – talat, every form derived by rule. Learn it cold and you have the pattern for thousands of regular verbs. In real conversation, though, Swedes mostly say prata — keep tala for languages (tala svenska) and more formal speech.

Now practice Swedish

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

Start learning Swedish→