Deponent Verbs (s-verbs That Aren't Passive) | Swedish Grammar

Some Swedish verbs end in -s and look exactly like a passive — but they are not passive at all. They have a completely ordinary, active meaning, and the -s is simply part of the word, as fixed as the -r in English occurs. These are called deponent verbs. The category is small, but it contains some of the highest-frequency verbs in the language — including finnas, the verb you use every time you say "there is." Once you recognise deponents as a class, a whole batch of otherwise puzzling -s words clicks into place.

What "deponent" means

In a normal -s passive, the -s turns an active verb into a passive one: bygga ("build") → byggas ("be built"). A deponent verb, by contrast, has no active counterpart without the -s — the -s is not doing passive work, it is just baked into the dictionary form. Hoppas means "hope"; there is no verb *hoppa meaning "hope" (the verb hoppa exists, but it means "jump" — a different word entirely). The deponent simply is an -s verb, top to bottom.

So the rule for deponents is blunt and absolute: you never remove the -s. It appears in every form — infinitive, present, past, supine, and the imperative.

Jag hoppas att du mår bra.

I hope you're well. hoppas is active in meaning — 'hope' — despite the -s.

Vi trivs jättebra i den nya lägenheten.

We feel really at home in the new flat. trivs = present of trivas; there's no -s-less form.

The everyday deponents

Here are the deponents you will meet first and use most. Learn them as fixed -s words.

Infinitive	Present	Past	Supine	Meaning
hoppas	hoppas	hoppades	hoppats	hope
trivas	trivs	trivdes	trivts	thrive / feel at home
lyckas	lyckas	lyckades	lyckats	succeed / manage to
finnas	finns	fanns	funnits	exist / there is
minnas	minns	mindes	mints	remember
andas	andas	andades	andats	breathe
skämmas	skäms	skämdes	skämts	be ashamed
vistas	vistas	vistades	vistats	stay / reside

Notice that finnas and minnas are irregular — they shorten in the present (finns, minns, not *finnas) and have vowel changes in the past (fanns, mindes). The others are regular weak verbs that simply carry the -s throughout. The -s never drops, in any of them.

Till slut lyckades vi hitta parkering.

In the end we managed to find parking. lyckades = past of lyckas, still with -s.

Andas djupt och försök slappna av.

Breathe deeply and try to relax. The imperative of a deponent keeps the -s: andas.

Jag minns inte var jag lade nycklarna.

I don't remember where I put the keys. minns = present of the irregular minnas.

Han skämdes över att han hade glömt hennes födelsedag.

He was ashamed that he'd forgotten her birthday. skämdes = past of skämmas.

finnas: the deponent you use every single day

Here is the point that surprises most learners. The ordinary way to say "there is / there are" in Swedish is det finns — and finnas is a deponent. So from your very first week of Swedish, you have been using a deponent verb constantly without knowing it belonged to a category.

Finns det kaffe?

Is there any coffee? finns is the present of the deponent finnas — this is the bread-and-butter existential verb.

Det fanns inga lediga rum kvar.

There were no free rooms left. fanns = past of finnas (irregular vowel change).

Det har funnits en affär här i hundra år.

There has been a shop here for a hundred years. funnits = supine of finnas.

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You already speak a deponent fluently: det finns ("there is") is just the deponent verb finnas. That is the secret of this category — it is not exotic at all, it is hiding inside an expression you use every day. Recognising it as a deponent stops you ever being tempted to write *det finn or *det finnar; the -s is permanent.

Why English speakers stumble here

English has nothing that looks like a deponent. Every English verb shows its plain active form (hope, breathe, succeed) with no fixed -s glued on. So an English speaker meeting hoppas has two instincts, both wrong:

Strip the -s to make it "active." Since the -s looks like a Swedish passive ending, learners try to remove it to get the "real" verb: *Jag hoppa att... This produces a non-word (or, with hoppa, the wrong word "jump"). The -s is not removable.
Read it as a passive. Because -s marks the passive elsewhere, learners parse Jag hoppas as "I am hoped," which is nonsense. Deponents simply do not mean passive — hoppas is "hope," full stop.

The fix is to file these eight or so verbs in memory as whole words ending in -s, the way you would memorise an irregular plural. Do not analyse the -s; do not try to peel it off.

De vistades i Spanien hela vintern.

They stayed in Spain all winter. vistas is a deponent — 'stay/reside', active in meaning.

Hoppas vi ses snart!

Hope to see you soon! A very common informal sign-off — note hoppas can drop its subject in casual speech, but never its -s.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag hoppa att det går bra.

Incorrect — you can't strip the -s; and 'hoppa' means 'jump'. The verb is hoppas.

✅ Jag hoppas att det går bra.

I hope it goes well.

❌ Det finn ingen mjölk i kylen.

Incorrect — finnas is a deponent; the present is finns, never *finn or *finnar.

✅ Det finns ingen mjölk i kylen.

There's no milk in the fridge.

❌ Vi trivde bra i huset.

Incorrect — the past keeps the -s: trivdes. The -s never disappears.

✅ Vi trivdes bra i huset.

We felt at home in the house.

❌ Han lyckade äntligen sluta röka.

Incorrect — lyckas is a deponent; the past is lyckades, with -s.

✅ Han lyckades äntligen sluta röka.

He finally managed to quit smoking.

❌ Jag minner inte hans namn.

Incorrect — the verb 'remember' is the deponent minnas; the present is minns.

✅ Jag minns inte hans namn.

I don't remember his name.

Key Takeaways

Deponent verbs always end in -s but are active in meaning — the -s is part of the word, not a passive marker.
The high-frequency set: hoppas, trivas, lyckas, finnas, minnas, andas, skämmas, vistas. Memorise them as whole -s words.
Never strip the -s — in any form (hoppas / hoppades / hoppats; trivs / trivdes / trivts). Don't read it as a passive either.
finnas (finns / fanns / funnits) is the everyday "there is" verb (det finns), so you use a deponent constantly. finnas and minnas are irregular in the present and past.
English has no equivalent, which is why the -s feels strippable to learners — resist that instinct entirely.

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