Hej!
I happened to read on a forum here on The Local that someone was confused about when to use an -s on verbs in Swedish. Most verbs end with a -r in present tense and -de in simple past as you probably know already, but sometimes there is an “mysterious s”. There are three different occasions when there is an -s. First of all there we will use -s to express the passive voice of the verb. Secondly -s can substitute the word “varandra” (each other). The grammar term for that is reciprocal verbs. Thirdly, there are a small group of verbs that always have a -s and there is no special reason for that, they just happen to end with a -s in all tenses. In this blog post I will take a closer look at all three types of using the -s.
-s expressing passive voice (passiv form)
Passive voice is used when we don’t know who is taking action or when it isn’t interesting who is doing it. In grammar terms we can express it as that we don’t have an agent in the sentence.
Passive voice is often used in newspaper articles and also news on TV and radio. Here are a few examples from Dagens Nyheter today:
17 skadades efter busskrock utanför Piteå.
(17 were injured after a bus crash outside Piteå.)
Sprängämnesstoff hittades i flickans sko.
(Explosive materials were found in the girl’s shoe.)
Mordbrännare jagas i Eslöv.
(Fire-raiser is being chased in Eslöv.)
In the examples above we don’t know or perhaps don’t find it interesting who injured the 17 people, who found the explosives in the shoe or who is chasing the fire-raiser in Eslöv.
The passive voice is also used in instructions, recipes for example, and in formal language. You will find passive forms on a carton of milk or on a bill like this:
Öppnas här!
(To be opened here.)
Betalas senast 100831
(To be paid at the latest by Aug. 31, 2010).
As you have seen the passive voice can be used for different tenses (actually all tenses) and it’s not complicated to construct the passive version of the verb. You more or less just ad a -s to the regular form except for the present tense where you need to remove the -r. It looks like this:
Present tense:
skadar (regular) skadas (passive)
köper (regular) köps/köpes (passive)
syr (regular) sys (passive)
skriver (regular) skrives/skrivs (passive)
Past tense:
skadade (regular) skadades (passive)
köpte (regular) köptes (passive)
sydde (regular) syddes (passive)
skrev (regular) skrevs (passive)
We can also create the passive voice with something called “the perfect participle” which is more common in spoken Swedish and less formal Swedish. I will discuss this in a different post but I can show you what our s-passives would look like constructed with a particple:
skadades – blev skadad
(was hurt)
hittades – blev hittad
(was found)
-s expressing “each other” (reciprocal verbs)
You have most likely used this form of the verbs since you started speaking Swedish and we can find it in some of our most common phrases.
Vi hörs!
These two words mean something like “We’ll hear from each other”. It’s not stated who’s going to contact who. You can compare it to “Jag ringer dig” (I’ll call you.) where it’s known from the outset who will call who.
Vi ses!
Is often translated as, “I’ll see you” but literally means, “we’ll see each other.”
Vi kan träffas klockan tre.
Means “we can meet each other at three o’clock”.
Through the years I have heard many Swedish learners saying things like “jag träffades mina kompisar” which isn’t correct. It is a good thumb rule that you can’t use “träffas” when the subject of the sentence is a single person such as jag, du, han or hon.
Here are a few more examples when it is common to use -s for “each other”:
De kramas.
(They are hugging each other.)
De pussas.
(They are kissing each other.)
De slåss.
(They are fighting with each other. /They are hitting each other.)
De retas.
(They are teasing each other.)
Using -s in the meaning “each other” in different tenses works the same way as with -s for passive voice. Just ad the -s to the regular form except for present tense where you first have to remove the -r:
Present tense
pussar – pussas
Past tense
pussade – pussades
Present perfekt
har pussat – har pussats
-s for no special reason
There are a number of verbs in Swedish that end with an -s in all tenses for no special reason: that is simply just what the words look like. In Swedish grammar books they are called “deponens”. These words are quite common and we use them all the time. Here are a few examples:
att hoppas – hoppas – hoppades – har hoppats
(to hope for)
att andas – andas – andades – har andats
(to breathe)
att lyckas – lyckas – lyckades – har lyckats
(to succeed)
att minnas – minns – mindes – har mints
(to remember, to recall)
att finnas – finns – fanns – har funnits
(to be, to exist)
att låtsas – låtsas – låtsades – har låtsats
(to pretend)
I hope I have been able to clear out the mysterious S! Let me know if not 
Tags: deponens, passive voice, reciprocal verbs, s
I found this article very good and useful indeed. Thanks so much for clarifying the mysterious -S
Grace
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This is just fantastic. You addressed my “Mysterious S” question, AND I learned about the “-s to mean *each other*” grammar bit which I had never even considered yet. Thank you so much!
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Just found your blog today, while looking for an answer to a similar question.
I bought a rhyming ABC book in Swedish with the idea to start doing some translating. I assumed that it would be a children’s book, but it turned out to be written by and for adults, and with a poetic lack of concern for those struggling to understand grammar. At any rate, I wonder if I’m being an idiot (not all that unlikely, alas) or if the following should not be attempted by a beginner:
F:
Fans är popidolens svans
fanns ej fans han inte fanns
My dictionary tells me that the definitive of idol should be idoln, so I fear that strict adherence to rules might have been sacrificed for the sake of meter.
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That rhyme should not be attempted by a beginner. Even as a native speaker, I have to read it twice to understand. What it says, in a rather poetic way, is:
“Fans are the tail of the pop idol
Were there no fans, he would not exist”
‘The idol’ is always ‘idolen’, not “idoln”.
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Jonas, many thanks. I was kind of getting the gist of the thing, which I guess is an achievement, but would not have been able to defend my guess very convincingly.
Thanks also for the correction on ‘idol.’ My dictionary only references a list of examples, wherein those ending in ‘l’ adopted an “ln” def. sing.
I get really frustrated with this dictionary, as they opted for terseness over completeness in almost all areas. My pet peeve is finding the main-entry infinitive of a verb (this despite that seeming fact that the imperitive would be most useful) with the past and supine irregularities the only indication that it is irregular, yet no indication of what the present might look like, or whether is an -er or -ar construction. Apologies for the rant, and thanks again.
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Thanks so much for the helpful Swedish lesson. I was confused about the reason for the ’s’ ending in phrases like “vi hörs” and “vi ses,” and now that confusion is cleared up!
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found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later
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Hej Daigoumee,
I’m glad to hear you like the blog
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Thanks. It could nod be explained in simplier way as it actually is.
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Hello teacher!
Thanks for this post! It’s great that someone takes the time to sort things out a little
. But there’s something funny going on with certain verbs…why is it possible (at least in my ears 
to say “Hunden bits.” “Han retas.” “Så du väsnas!”. It does work, right? But why? 
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Hej!
First I want to apologize for taking so extremely long to answer your question. Förlåt!
You’re that there is something funny going on with the s in “Hunden bits.” and “Han retas.” It is for sure not a passive voice or a reciprok form (“s” meaning “each other”). I read in a grammar book once (forgot ehich one) that we can add -s to the verb to express that the action is agressive. “Hunden bits.” sounds more agressive than “Hunden biter.” If you were afraid of dogs you’d rather ask a dog owner “Bits hunden?”. ALso if you use “biter” you in most cases add what the dog is biting, for example “Hunden biter på en leksak.” The same thing goes for “retas”. Saying “Han retas.” makes you sound a little bit more upset than saying “Han retar mig.” Note that you wouldn’t say just “Han retar.”
Hope this made things more clear
Sara the Swedish Teacher
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Yes, very useful information.
For the third kind (deponens) there might in some of the cases actually be an explanation:
Once an original form (active) has existed, but then vanished and the passive s-form took its place an became active.
The verb minnas and andas are example of this.
Minna and anda were once active verbs but are now extinct/lost from the swedish language. [Source: SAOB]
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Intressant! Tack för den informationen Michael
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