The imperative mood

Getting Attention

To politely get someone's attention, use ursäkta (excuse me).

The Imperative Mood

Use the imperative (the verb stem) to give commands and directions. Form it in one of three ways:

• Short verbs: Identical to the infinitive (e.g., gå).
• Drop the final -a: For many standard verbs, remove the -a from the infinitive (e.g., svänga → sväng, stänga → stäng).
• Keep the final -a: For other verbs, the imperative stays identical to the infinitive (e.g., öppna, vänta).

Polite Requests

Commands can sound direct. To soften an instruction into a request, add snälla (please).