tömma means "to empty" — and it is the exact opposite of fylla ("to fill"). You tömmer the bins, your pockets, a glass, a building. Its one slightly tricky feature is the spelling: the infinitive has a double m (tömma), but that double m simplifies in the past and supine (tömde, tömt), which catches learners off guard.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tömma | tömmer | tömde | tömt | töm | Group 2 (-de) |
tömma is a Group 2 verb with the voiced -de past. The stem sound is the voiced m, so it takes -de. The wrinkle is purely orthographic: the infinitive and present keep the double m (tömma, tömmer) because the m sits between two vowels, but once you add the consonant-initial endings -de and -t, the double m is no longer needed and Swedish writes a single m: tömde, tömt. The same happens in the imperative — the bare stem is written töm (Töm fickorna! "Empty your pockets!"). Don't write tömmde or tömmt.
Use 1: empty a container or space
The core sense: removing the contents of something. The thing emptied is a direct object.
Kan du tömma soporna innan vi går?
Can you empty the bins before we leave? tömma soporna — 'take out / empty the rubbish'.
Han tömde fickorna på bordet.
He emptied his pockets onto the table. tömde — the single-m past.
Vi måste tömma rummet före lördag.
We have to empty the room before Saturday.
Brevlådan töms klockan fem.
The postbox is emptied at five. töms — the passive '-s' form, here on the present.
Use 2: tömma ut — pour / tip out
With the particle ut ("out"), tömma ut means to pour or tip the contents out — emptying by pouring.
Hon tömde ut vattnet i vasken.
She poured the water out into the sink. tömma ut — particle ut, 'tip / pour out'.
Töm ut väskan så hittar vi nyckeln.
Tip the bag out and we'll find the key.
Use 3: emptied — the perfect and participle
The supine tömt follows har; the participle tömd / tömt / tömda agrees like an adjective.
Jag har redan tömt diskmaskinen.
I've already emptied the dishwasher. har tömt — the perfect, single-m supine.
Kontot var helt tömt efter semestern.
The account was completely emptied after the holiday. tömt — participle, here figurative ('drained').
The pair: fylla and tömma
Learn tömma alongside fylla ("to fill") — they are a clean antonym pair and both are Group 2. You fyller a glass and tömmer it; you fyller the tank and tömmer it. One small asymmetry worth noting: fylla takes the voiced -de like tömma, so both pasts rhyme in structure (fyllde / tömde).
How this differs from English
English uses "empty" as both an adjective and a verb with the same shape — "the glass is empty" and "to empty the glass." Swedish keeps them separate: the adjective is tom (glaset är tomt) and the verb is tömma (tömma glaset). They share a root, but you cannot swap one for the other — tömma is always the action of removing contents, tom is always the resulting state. So where English says "I emptied the empty box," Swedish naturally distinguishes the verb from the adjective: Jag tömde den tomma lådan. Keeping tom (adjective) and tömma (verb) apart is the cleanest way to avoid mixing them up.
Glaset är tomt, men jag tömde det inte.
The glass is empty, but I didn't empty it. tomt = the adjective (empty), tömde = the verb (emptied).
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag tömmde soporna.
Incorrect — the double m simplifies before -de. The past is tömde, with one m.
✅ Jag tömde soporna.
I emptied the bins.
❌ Jag har tömmt fickorna.
Incorrect — same rule for the supine: tömt, one m. Say har tömt.
✅ Jag har tömt fickorna.
I have emptied my pockets.
❌ Töm soporna ut.
Word order — the particle hugs the verb: töm ut soporna, not *töm soporna ut.
✅ Töm ut soporna.
Tip the rubbish out.
❌ Jag tömde glaset. (single m in infinitive too)
Watch consistency — past tömde has one m, but the infinitive keeps two: tömma. Don't strip the m where it belongs.
✅ Jag ska tömma glaset.
I'm going to empty the glass.
Now practice Swedish
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
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