Deponent Verbs in Swedish

In Brief

Swedish deponent verbs end in -s even though their meaning is active: Jag hoppas means “I hope,” not “I am hoped.” The -s belongs to the verb and normally remains throughout its conjugation. Learn each verb with its principal forms, because common deponent verbs include both regular patterns (hoppas–hoppades–hoppats) and irregular ones (finnas–finns–fanns–funnits).

Overview

A deponent verb has the form normally associated with the passive voice but does not have a passive meaning. A passive sentence presents the subject as receiving an action: Huset byggs means “The house is being built.” By contrast, the subject of Jag hoppas is actively experiencing hope. Nothing is being “hoped” by someone else.

This distinction becomes important around B1, once you know the Swedish s-passive. Both an ordinary passive and a deponent verb can end in -s, so form alone is not enough: you must also consider the verb’s meaning and dictionary entry. An ordinary active verb such as bygga can form the passive byggas. A deponent such as hoppas is listed with -s as part of the verb itself.

For an English-speaking learner, the safest approach is to treat hoppas, lyckas, and minnas as complete vocabulary items—not as passive versions of hypothetical verbs. Removing -s can produce no standard verb at all, or a completely different one. For example, hoppas means “hope,” while hoppa means “jump.”

How It Works

The core pattern

The infinitive (the basic “to…” form), present tense, past tense, and supine (the form used after har or hade) normally all retain -s. In many regular deponent verbs, the infinitive and present tense look identical.

Verb	Infinitive	Present	Past	Supine	Meaning
hoppas	hoppas	hoppas	hoppades	hoppats	hope
lyckas	lyckas	lyckas	lyckades	lyckats	succeed, manage
andas	andas	andas	andades	andats	breathe
fattas	fattas	fattas	fattades	fattats	be missing, be lacking
minnas	minnas	minns	mindes	mints	remember
trivas	trivas	trivs	trivdes	trivts	enjoy oneself, feel at home
skämmas	skämmas	skäms	skämdes	skämts	be ashamed
finnas	finnas	finns	fanns	funnits	exist, be available

The final consonant combinations in forms such as minns, trivs, and skäms are normal. Do not restore an extra vowel or add another ending: the correct present forms are minns, trivs, and skäms.

Regular tense patterns

Many deponent verbs behave much like weak Swedish verbs, except that -s remains attached:

• Jag hoppas att hon kommer. — “I hope she comes.”
• Jag hoppades att hon skulle komma. — “I hoped she would come.”
• Jag har hoppats på ett svar. — “I have hoped for an answer.”

The same pattern appears in lyckas–lyckades–lyckats and andas–andades–andats. The perfect tense uses har plus the supine: har lyckats, har andats. Do not use the past form after har.

Important irregular patterns

Some very frequent verbs must be memorized separately:

• minnas–minns–mindes–mints
• finnas–finns–fanns–funnits
• trivas–trivs–trivdes–trivts
• skämmas–skäms–skämdes–skämts

Finnas is especially useful. It often corresponds to English “there is/are”:

• Det finns en lösning. — “There is a solution.”
• Det fanns inga biljetter. — “There were no tickets.”
• Det har funnits problem. — “There have been problems.”

Here det is a grammatical placeholder; it does not refer to a specific object.

Sentence patterns and complements

A complement is a word or phrase needed to complete a verb’s meaning. Common deponent verbs prefer different complements, so learn the whole pattern.

Pattern	Typical meaning	Example
hoppas att + clause	hope that…	Vi hoppas att tåget går.
hoppas på + noun	hope for…	Hon hoppas på bättre väder.
lyckas med + noun	succeed with…	De lyckades med projektet.
lyckas + infinitive	manage to…	Jag lyckades öppna dörren.
minnas + noun/clause	remember…	Minns du hans namn?
trivas med/på/i	enjoy, feel comfortable with/at/in	Jag trivs på jobbet.
skämmas för	be ashamed of…	Han skäms för misstaget.
fattas + noun	be missing	Det fattas en sida.

After lyckas, Swedish normally uses an infinitive without att: Hon lyckades lösa problemet, not lyckades att lösa. By contrast, hoppas commonly introduces a complete clause with att.

Deponent or ordinary s-passive?

Compare the role of -s in these sentences:

Form	Analysis	Meaning
Boken säljs här.	passive of sälja	The book is sold here.
Hon hoppas på svar.	deponent verb hoppas	She hopes for an answer.
Dörren stängdes.	passive of stänga	The door was closed.
Han skämdes.	past of deponent skämmas	He was ashamed.

A useful test is to look for a corresponding ordinary active verb with the same meaning. Någon säljer boken (“Someone sells the book”) corresponds to Boken säljs. There is no equivalent active verb hoppa meaning “hope”; hoppa means “jump.” Dictionaries also settle the question: a deponent is entered with its final -s.

Examples in Context

Swedish	English	Note
Jag hoppas det.	I hope so.	Hoppas can stand without an att clause.
Vi hoppas att du snart mår bättre.	We hope you feel better soon.	Hoppas att introduces a clause.
Hon lyckades.	She succeeded.	The verb can stand alone.
Till slut lyckades han hitta nycklarna.	In the end, he managed to find the keys.	Infinitive without att.
Jag minns det mycket tydligt.	I remember it very clearly.	Irregular present minns.
Minns du var vi träffades?	Do you remember where we met?	Present-tense question.
Barnet andas lugnt.	The child is breathing calmly.	Regular deponent pattern.
Det fattas pengar till renoveringen.	Money is lacking for the renovation.	What is missing follows the verb.
En knapp fattas på skjortan.	A button is missing from the shirt.	The missing item is the subject.
Det finns kaffe i köket.	There is coffee in the kitchen.	Existential det finns.
Det fanns inga lediga rum.	There were no rooms available.	Irregular past fanns.
Jag trivs bra i min nya lägenhet.	I am very comfortable in my new apartment.	Trivas i a place.
Hon har alltid skämts för sitt uttal.	She has always been ashamed of her pronunciation.	Har + supine skämts.
Vi har lyckats lösa problemet.	We have managed to solve the problem.	Perfect tense plus infinitive.

Common Mistakes

Removing the final -s

• Wrong: Jag hoppar att allt går bra.
• Right: Jag hoppas att allt går bra.
• Why: Hoppas means “hope.” Hoppar is the present tense of hoppa, “jump,” so removing -s changes the verb rather than making it active.

Treating a deponent as a passive

• Wrong interpretation: Hon lyckades = “She was succeeded.”
• Right interpretation: Hon lyckades = “She succeeded” or “She managed.”
• Why: The -s is part of lyckas and does not make the subject a receiver of an action.

Using the wrong form after har

• Wrong: Vi har lyckades.
• Right: Vi har lyckats.
• Why: After har, use the supine (the perfect-tense form), not the simple past: lyckats, hoppats, andats.

Adding att after lyckas

• Wrong: Han lyckades att komma i tid.
• Right: Han lyckades komma i tid.
• Why: When lyckas means “manage to,” the following infinitive normally appears without att.

Confusing fattas with an English-style personal construction

• Awkward: Jag fattas pengar.
• Right: Det fattas pengar. / Jag saknar pengar.
• Why: Det fattas pengar means “money is lacking.” To say that you lack or miss something, jag saknar… is often the natural personal construction.

Regularizing an irregular verb

• Wrong: Jag minnades inte namnet.
• Right: Jag mindes inte namnet.
• Why: Minnas has the irregular past mindes and supine mints. Learn its principal forms together.

Usage Notes

Deponent verbs are not limited to formal writing. Hoppas, finnas, lyckas, minnas, and trivas are common in everyday speech. Their -s is not a stylistic choice and cannot be dropped in casual conversation.

Some verbs have English translations that vary with context. Lyckas can mean “succeed” when used alone or with med: Hon lyckades med uppgiften (“She succeeded with the task”). Before another verb, it often means “manage to”: Hon lyckades bli klar (“She managed to finish”). Trivas is broader than English “enjoy oneself”; it can describe feeling comfortable, settled, or happy in a place or situation.

Fattas and saknas can both express absence, but their grammar and tone differ by context. Det fattas två stolar is an everyday way to say that two chairs are missing or still needed. Två stolar saknas presents the chairs directly as missing and is common in neutral notices and inventories. Do not assume that every verb ending in -s belongs to exactly the same semantic group.

In speech, hoppas also appears in short reactions and wishes: Hoppas det! (“I hope so!”) and Hoppas du får en fin resa! (“Hope you have a nice trip!”). The subject jag and sometimes att are omitted when the meaning is obvious.

Beyond the Basics: Other Active s-Verbs

Swedish grammar references do not always draw the category boundaries in precisely the same place. Alongside clear deponent verbs, Swedish has other s-verbs whose meaning is not an ordinary passive. For example, mötas can mean “meet each other,” and slåss means “fight.” This is often called a reciprocal meaning: two or more participants act toward one another.

• Vi möts utanför stationen. — “We’ll meet outside the station.”
• De träffades på universitetet. — “They met at university.”
• Bröderna slåss ofta. — “The brothers often fight.”

These verbs are worth recognizing, but do not use “active meaning” as proof that every -s verb is a deponent. An -s form may be:

1. an ordinary passive: Maten lagas (“The food is being cooked”);
2. a lexical deponent whose -s belongs to the verb: Jag hoppas (“I hope”);
3. a reciprocal or mutual construction: Vi ses (“See you” / literally, “We see each other”); or
4. a fixed s-verb with its own conventional meaning.

The historical origin of some deponents lies in older voice systems, but that history does not give a reliable rule for modern conjugation. For practical Swedish, dictionary forms, tense patterns, and sentence complements matter more.

Participles also require caution. A participle is a verb-derived form used somewhat like an adjective, as in English “closed” in “a closed door.” Many deponents are intransitive—they do not take a direct object (a thing directly acted upon)—so they do not freely produce ordinary passive participles. Avoid inventing participles by simply stripping or changing -s. Check a dictionary when you need an adjective related to a deponent verb.

Practice Tips

1. Learn four forms as one unit. Make cards such as minnas–minns–mindes–mints and finnas–finns–fanns–funnits. Say one short sentence in each tense.
2. Record the whole construction. Write hoppas på något, lyckas med något, lyckas göra något, trivas på jobbet, and skämmas för något rather than memorizing an isolated translation.
3. Classify -s forms while reading. For each form you notice, ask whether it is an ordinary passive, a deponent, or a reciprocal expression. Then verify unfamiliar verbs in a Swedish dictionary.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: S-Passive — learn how ordinary Swedish verbs form the passive with -s, so you can contrast passive meaning with deponent meaning.