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Questions & Answers about Johan målade huset.
Why does the verb målade end in -ade?
Målade is the simple past tense of att måla (to paint). Because måla ends in an -a in its infinitive form, it belongs to the most common group of Swedish verbs (Group 1). To form the past tense for this group, you simply add -de to the infinitive, making it målade.
How do Swedes usually pronounce past tense words like målade?
In everyday spoken Swedish, the -de at the end is often completely silent. People will usually pronounce this sentence as Johan måla huset. Because of this, you often have to rely on the context of the conversation to know someone is using the past tense instead of the present tense or infinitive.