ska is the future of intention. When you've decided something, planned it, or arranged it, you reach for ska + a bare infinitive: Jag ska handla imorgon ("I'm going to do the shopping tomorrow"). The crucial thing to internalize from the start is that ska is never a neutral future — it always carries a trace of will, decision, or someone-arranged-this. That single fact tells you both where ska shines (plans, promises, intentions) and where it goes badly wrong (predicting the weather). This page drills the form, the meanings, and the boundary you must not cross.
Form: ska + bare infinitive
The construction is simple: ska followed directly by the infinitive, with no att in between.
Jag ska handla imorgon.
I'm going to do the shopping tomorrow. ska + bare infinitive 'handla' — no 'att'.
Vi ska träffas klockan tre.
We're going to meet at three o'clock. An arrangement — ska + infinitive 'träffas'.
The verb ska never changes for person — jag ska, du ska, hon ska, vi ska, de ska are all identical. (Its full conjugation, including the past form skulle, lives on skola: full conjugation.)
Meaning 1: a plan or intention
The core use. ska presents a future action as something the subject has decided to do. There's a person with a will behind it.
Jag ska resa till Spanien i sommar.
I'm going to travel to Spain this summer. A decision I've made — not a guess about what'll happen.
Vi ska gifta oss nästa år.
We're getting married next year. An intention the couple has settled on.
Vad ska du göra i helgen?
What are you going to do this weekend? Asking about someone's plans — the everyday use of ska.
This is the form you use to talk about your weekend, your holiday, your career — anything you intend to bring about.
Meaning 2: an arrangement or scheduled commitment
Closely related: ska marks something arranged, especially when two or more people have agreed on it. The line between "my plan" and "our arrangement" is soft, and ska covers both.
Vi ska träffas på fredag för att planera resan.
We're going to meet on Friday to plan the trip. An arranged commitment.
Läkaren sa att jag ska komma tillbaka om en vecka.
The doctor said I should/am to come back in a week. An arrangement laid on by someone else.
Meaning 3: obligation and command
Here is where ska shows its hand most clearly. Because it carries intention and will, it shades naturally into obligation — what should or must happen, often because someone in authority has decided it. The same word that says "I intend to" can say "you are to."
Du ska göra dina läxor innan du går ut.
You're to do your homework before you go out. Obligation — a parent laying down the rule.
Du ska vara tyst nu.
You are to be quiet now. A command — ska directed at someone else becomes an order.
Alla ska bära hjälm på bygget.
Everyone must wear a helmet on the building site. A rule/requirement, expressed with ska.
This overlap is not a quirk — it's the same intention-meaning pointed at someone else. When I intend something, ska is my plan. When you are made to do something, ska is your obligation. Tone and context tell you which.
The boundary: ska is wrong for impersonal predictions
This is the rule that trips up English speakers most, because English will happily does both jobs. Never use ska for a neutral prediction about something no one controls — weather, ageing, natural processes. ska would imply that someone arranged it, which is absurd for rain or growing older. Use kommer att instead.
❌ Det ska snöa imorgon.
Incorrect for a forecast — 'ska' implies the snow was arranged. Weather isn't intended.
✅ Det kommer att snöa imorgon.
It's going to snow tomorrow. Neutral prediction = kommer att.
There is one literary/regional shadow here worth flagging so you recognize it: in older or dialectal Swedish you may meet Det ska bli regn ("there's to be rain") with ska in a near-prophetic, "it is fated" sense. That's stylized and not how you should form everyday forecasts. (literary / regional)
The spelling: ska vs skall
ska is the standard modern spelling in all ordinary writing and speech. The older form skall still appears in formal, legal, and official texts, and in older literature — it's the same word, just dressed up, and it now sounds dated in everyday speech. Read it, but write ska unless you're drafting a contract. (skall: formal / older)
Hyresgästen skall meddela hyresvärden vid skada.
The tenant shall notify the landlord in the event of damage. (formal) 'skall' is typical of legal/contract Swedish.
Jag ska bara kolla en sak, sen är jag klar.
I'm just going to check one thing, then I'm done. (informal) Everyday 'ska' in casual speech.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag ska att resa till Norge.
Incorrect — 'ska' takes a bare infinitive, never 'att'.
✅ Jag ska resa till Norge.
I'm going to travel to Norway.
❌ Du ska blir gammal en dag. (for 'you'll get old someday')
Incorrect on two counts: ageing isn't intended (use kommer att), and after ska you need the infinitive 'bli', not 'blir'.
✅ Du kommer att bli gammal en dag.
You're going to get old someday. Ageing is a neutral prediction → kommer att.
❌ Det ska regna hela veckan.
Incorrect for a forecast — 'ska' implies arrangement; weather isn't arranged.
✅ Det kommer att regna hela veckan.
It's going to rain all week.
❌ Han ska går till jobbet imorgon.
Incorrect — after ska use the infinitive 'gå', not the present 'går'.
✅ Han ska gå till jobbet imorgon.
He's going to walk to work tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
- ska + bare infinitive (no att) is the future of intention — a plan, a decision, an arrangement: Jag ska handla imorgon, Vi ska gifta oss.
- Because ska carries will, it slides into obligation and command when aimed at someone else: Du ska vara tyst.
- ska is wrong for impersonal predictions (weather, ageing) — those have no one behind them, so use kommer att.
- The follow-up verb is always the bare infinitive (ska gå, not ska går, not ska att gå).
- skall is the formal/older spelling of ska — read it in legal and official texts, but write ska in normal Swedish.
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- Talking About the FutureA2 — Swedish has NO separate future tense — no single 'will' verb. Instead it uses three tools: the plain present for scheduled or certain events (Vi åker imorgon), 'ska + infinitive' for intentions and plans (Jag ska resa till Spanien), and 'kommer att + infinitive' for predictions and inevitable outcomes (Det kommer att regna). The choice between ska and kommer att encodes a meaning English's single 'will' hides: intention versus neutral prediction.
- The Future with kommer attA2 — kommer att + infinitive is Swedish's NEUTRAL future: an objective prediction or inevitable outcome the subject doesn't necessarily intend or control — Det kommer att regna, Du kommer att ångra det, Hon kommer att bli arg. The att is obligatory in writing (unlike after modals), though it's routinely dropped in fast speech (kommer regna). Use it for forecasts, consequences, and natural processes; use ska for things someone decided.
- ska / skola (shall, will, supposed to)A2 — ska (formal skall) is Swedish's modal of intention and the planned future — Jag ska resa, 'I'm going to travel' — with past skulle ('would / was going to'). It also reports hearsay (Han ska vara rik, 'he's said to be rich'). The infinitive skola is archaic; ska takes a bare infinitive and is invariable.
- ska vs kommer attA2 — Swedish has two main ways to talk about the future, and they aren't interchangeable. ska expresses intention, a plan, a decision, or a promise — someone has WILLED it (Jag ska sluta röka, 'I'm going to quit smoking'). kommer att is a neutral prediction or an inevitable outcome no one controls (Det kommer att regna, 'It's going to rain'). The test: who controls the outcome? A decider → ska. An external inevitability → kommer att.