vakna means "to wake up" — to become awake on your own. It is the intransitive change-of-state verb, the exact mirror image of somna (fall asleep). It is a fully regular Group 1 verb, vakna – vaknar – vaknade – vaknat, so conjugation is easy; the difficulty is keeping it apart from two close relatives: vara vaken ("to be awake," the state) and väcka ("to wake someone else," transitive). Like somna, its -na ending marks a change of state, built on the adjective vaken.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vakna | vaknar | vaknade | vaknat | vakna | Group 1 (-ar verb) |
As a Group 1 verb every form is predictable: present vaknar, past vaknade, supine vaknat, imperative vakna. No vowel change, no irregularity. The perfect is har vaknat, the pluperfect hade vaknat. (Watch your spelling: the stem is vakn-, so it is vaknade, not vaknnade.)
Jag vaknar klockan sex varje morgon, även på helgen.
I wake up at six every morning, even on weekends. vaknar — present.
Hon vaknade av att telefonen ringde.
She woke up because the phone rang. vaknade — past.
Jag har precis vaknat, ge mig en kaffe.
I've just woken up, give me a coffee. har vaknat — perfect.
Use 1: present, past and perfect
The three tenses follow the principal parts directly. Like somna, vakna is punctual — it names the instant of becoming awake — so the present vaknar often reads as habitual, and a specific morning takes the past vaknade.
Han vaknar alltid på dåligt humör.
He always wakes up in a bad mood. Present vaknar — habitual.
Vi vaknade av åskan mitt i natten.
We woke up from the thunder in the middle of the night. vaknade — a specific event.
Hade barnen redan vaknat när du kom hem?
Had the kids already woken up when you got home? hade vaknat — pluperfect.
Use 2: the triad — vakna vs vara vaken vs väcka
This is the heart of the card. Swedish splits across three verbs what English handles with "wake":
| Verb | Meaning | Type | Forms |
|---|---|---|---|
| vakna | wake up (by oneself) | intransitive, change of state | vaknar – vaknade – vaknat |
| vara vaken | be awake | state (adjective + vara) | är/var vaken |
| väcka | wake someone else | transitive (Group 2) | väcker – väckte – väckt |
The logic: vakna is the change you undergo, vara vaken is the state you are then in, and väcka is what you do to another person. You cannot vakna someone — that has to be väcka.
Jag vaknade tidigt, låg vaken en stund och väckte sedan barnen.
I woke up early, lay awake for a while, and then woke the kids. vakna (change) → vara vaken (state) → väcka (transitive).
Är du vaken? Jag väckte dig visst.
Are you awake? I think I woke you. vara vaken (state) vs väcka (the act).
Väck mig klockan sju, men låt syrran sova.
Wake me at seven, but let my sister sleep. väck — imperative of väcka, with an object.
Use 3: vakna upp and the -na change-of-state family
The particle vakna upp simply intensifies vakna ("wake right up," or figuratively "wake up to reality"). And like somna, vakna sits in the -na family of change-of-state verbs built from adjectives: vaken → vakna, mogen → mogna (ripen), röd → rodna (blush, turn red), gammal → loosely åldras. Spotting the -na lets you predict that a verb means "become X."
Vakna upp, det är dags att gå till skolan!
Wake up, it's time to go to school! vakna upp — wake right up.
Folk började äntligen vakna upp och inse problemet.
People finally started to wake up and realise the problem. vakna upp — figurative.
Hon rodnade när han log mot henne.
She blushed when he smiled at her. rodna — the same -na change-of-state pattern.
Common Mistakes
❌ Kan du vakna mig klockan sju?
Wrong verb — you can't vakna someone else. To wake another person, use the transitive väcka.
✅ Kan du väcka mig klockan sju?
Can you wake me at seven?
❌ Jag är vaknade tidigt. (mixing state and change)
Wrong — vaknade is the verb 'woke up'; don't put är in front of it. Either Jag vaknade tidigt or Jag är vaken.
✅ Jag vaknade tidigt.
I woke up early.
❌ Barnen har vaknit.
Wrong supine — vakna is Group 1, so the supine is vaknat, not a strong -it form.
✅ Barnen har vaknat.
The kids have woken up.
❌ Pappa väckte och gjorde frukost. (meaning 'woke up')
Wrong — väcka is transitive and needs an object. For 'woke up' (by himself), use vaknade.
✅ Pappa vaknade och gjorde frukost.
Dad woke up and made breakfast.
Now practice Swedish
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Using the Verb ReferenceA2 — How to read the single-verb reference cards and the principal-parts citation system that underpins them. Every Swedish verb is cited as a short chain — infinitive – present – preteritum – supine – (past participle) — because every other form is derivable from those parts. This page decodes one weak verb (tala – talar – talade – talat) and one strong verb (skriva – skriver – skrev – skrivit – skriven), explains the conjugation-group labels (1/2/3/4), and gives a key to everything on a card.
- sova (to sleep)A1 — sova means 'to be asleep' and is a strong verb with a zero-ending past: sova – sover – sov – sovit. It is the 'state' half of a state/change pair — sova is BE asleep, while its Group 1 partner somna is FALL asleep.
- The Four Conjugation GroupsA2 — Swedish verbs sort into four conjugation classes, identified not by the present tense but by the PAST (preteritum) and supine: Group 1 (talar/talade/talat), Group 2 (ringer/ringde/ringt, köper/köpte/köpt), Group 3 (bor/bodde/bott), and Group 4, the strong verbs (skriver/skrev/skrivit) that change their vowel. Group 1 is so dominant and regular that every new and borrowed verb joins it — so treat it as the default and memorise only the closed list of strong verbs.