upprepa means "to repeat" — to say or do something again. It is one of the most useful verbs in a beginner's toolkit, because Kan du upprepa? ("Can you repeat that?") is exactly what you need when you didn't catch what someone said. It is built from upp ("up") plus repa, and it is a perfectly regular Group 1 verb.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| upprepa | upprepar | upprepade | upprepat | upprepa | Group 1 |
The upp- prefix is inseparable here: it stays attached in every form, including the perfect (har upprepat, never repat upp). So you can conjugate the -repa ending exactly like a plain Group 1 verb: upprepar, upprepade, upprepat. There is no stem change. Be careful not to confuse upprepa ("repeat = say again") with the look-alike loanword repetera, which in everyday Swedish leans towards "to revise, go over" study material — repetera inför provet ("revise for the test"). When you simply want someone to say a thing once more, upprepa is the precise verb.
Use 1: asking someone to repeat
The single most useful pattern is the polite request Kan du upprepa (det)? ("Can you repeat that?"). You can drop the det or keep it; both are natural.
Förlåt, kan du upprepa det?
Sorry, can you repeat that? The everyday request when you didn't hear.
Kan du upprepa frågan, tack?
Can you repeat the question, please? upprepa + the thing to repeat, no preposition.
Skulle du kunna upprepa numret lite långsammare?
Could you repeat the number a bit more slowly? Slightly softer, more polite phrasing.
Use 2: repeating a word, claim or action
Transitively, upprepa takes whatever is repeated as a direct object — a word, a sentence, a question, a claim, a mistake.
Läraren bad oss upprepa ordet flera gånger.
The teacher asked us to repeat the word several times. upprepa ordet — direct object, no preposition.
Hon upprepade samma sak om och om igen.
She repeated the same thing over and over again. upprepade — the regular Group 1 past.
Han upprepar gärna att han alltid har rätt.
He's fond of repeating that he's always right. Present upprepar + att-clause.
Jag har redan upprepat det tre gånger.
I've already repeated it three times. har upprepat — the perfect, supine upprepat after har.
The reflexive: upprepa sig
upprepa sig means "to repeat oneself" — and, of a thing, "to recur, to happen again." The reflexive pronoun agrees with the subject: jag upprepar mig, historien upprepar sig.
Ursäkta att jag upprepar mig, men det är viktigt.
Sorry to repeat myself, but it's important. upprepa sig of a person = 'repeat oneself'.
Historien upprepar sig.
History repeats itself. A fixed saying; of a thing, upprepa sig = 'recur'.
The noun: en upprepning
The noun en upprepning ("a repetition") is an en-word. It names the act or instance of repeating — useful when talking about learning, music, or rhetoric.
Genom upprepning fastnar orden till slut.
Through repetition the words finally stick. en upprepning — the 'repetition' that drives learning.
Texten har för många onödiga upprepningar.
The text has too many unnecessary repetitions. Plural upprepningar.
Common Mistakes
❌ Kan du uppreper det? (Group 2 ending)
Incorrect — upprepa is Group 1: the present is upprepar (-ar), not *uppreper (-er).
✅ Kan du upprepa det?
Can you repeat that? (Here the bare infinitive follows the modal kan.)
❌ Hon upprepde frågan. (bare -de)
Incorrect — Group 1 takes the full -ade. The past is upprepade, not *upprepde.
✅ Hon upprepade frågan.
She repeated the question.
❌ Jag upprepar sig. (wrong reflexive)
Incorrect — the reflexive must agree: jag → mig. Use jag upprepar mig.
✅ Jag upprepar mig.
I'm repeating myself.
❌ Kan du repetera upp det?
Off — upprepa is inseparable; the prefix never detaches, and 'repeat that' is upprepa det, not *repetera upp.
✅ Kan du upprepa det?
Can you repeat that?
Now practice Swedish
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