Present perfect: Groups 3 and 4

Group 3 Verbs: Supinum in -tt

Group 3 consists of short verbs that end in a stressed vowel. To form the supinum for these verbs, simply add -tt to the infinitive.

  • bo (to live) → bott (lived)
  • (to reach) → nått (reached)
  • ske (to happen) → skett (happened)
  • tro (to believe) → trott (believed)

Here are some examples of Group 3 verbs in action. You will often use these to talk about reaching a goal (målet) or discussing incredible (otrolig) news (nyheten):

Have you heard the news? Something incredible has happened!
Har du hört nyheten? Något otroligt har skett!
We have reached the goal for the project.
Vi har nått målet för projektet.
He has lived in Sweden before.
Han har bott i Sverige tidigare.

Group 4 Verbs: Supinum in -it

Group 4 contains strong and irregular verbs. The supinum for this group always ends in -it.

While some verbs simply add -it to the root, many Group 4 verbs undergo a vowel change in the stem. For example, the vowel changes in stjäla (to steal) to form stulit, and in försvinna (to disappear) to form försvunnit.

  • skriva (to write) → skrivit (written)
  • sova (to sleep) → sovit (slept)
  • ta (to take) → tagit (taken)
  • stjäla (to steal) → stulit (stolen)
  • försvinna (to disappear) → försvunnit (disappeared)

Let's see these in context, such as a journalist (journalisten) writing an article (artikeln), or a thief (tjuven) committing a crime:

The journalist has already written the article.
Journalisten har redan skrivit artikeln.
The thief has stolen the money!
Tjuven har stulit pengarna!
Now the thief has disappeared in the forest.
Nu har tjuven försvunnit i skogen.