What is the past tense of ligga in Swedish?

The past tense (preteritum) of ligga is låg, the same for every person: jag låg, du låg, vi låg. Example from our stories: “Det låg lite utanför byn.”

What is the supine of ligga?

legat. The supine is used with har and hade to form the perfect: jag har legat, jag hade legat.

Is ligga a regular verb?

No. ligga is a strong or irregular verb (group 4): ligger, låg, legat.

ligga Conjugation: Swedish Verb “lie”

Form	Swedish	English pattern
Infinitive	att ligga	to …
Present	ligger	I …, he …s
Past (preteritum)	låg	I …ed
Supine (perfect)	har legat	have …ed
Past perfect	hade legat	had …ed
Future	ska ligga / kommer att ligga	will …
Imperative	ligg!	… !
Present participle	liggande	…ing

Swedish verbs do not change for person: jag ligger, du ligger, hon ligger, vi ligger, de ligger. Learn one form per tense and you can use it with everyone.

How ligga conjugates

Group 4 holds the strong and irregular verbs. They change their vowel in the past and supine (skriva → skrev, skrivit) or are fully irregular (vara → är, var, varit). They are few, but they are the most frequent verbs in the language, so they are worth learning one by one. ligga is one of them: ligger, låg, legat. Learn these forms together.

Meanings and examples

Patterns: ngn = någon (someone) · ngt = något (something) · SATS = a clause · VERB = a verb · PLATS = a place · RIKTNING = a direction · TID = a time · SÄTT = a manner · ADJ = an adjective

1 lie

är i vågrätt läge, vilar (1); är placerad

Pattern ngn/ngt ligger PLATS

ligga i sängenlie in bed
boken ligger på bordetthe book is on the table
gatan ligger i Göteborgthat street is in Göteborg
hon ligger trea i tävlingenshe is lying third in the competition

Phrases with ligga

Swedish builds many meanings by adding a particle (upp, ut, på, om) or a fixed phrase. These are the ones the dictionary lists:

ligga med någonsleep with sby, go to bed with sby ("have sexual intercourse with sby")
du ligger illa tillyou're in a pickle ("you are in an unfortunate situation")
vad ligger bakom beslutet?what is behind the decision? ("what is the reason for the decision?")
ligga i blodetbe part of one's character ("be of one's nature, typical")
ligga lågtlie low ("bide one's time, remain secretly ready for action")
ligga i luftenbe in the air ("be able to anticipate or feel")

ligga in real stories

Sentences from the Smisli reading library where this verb appears:

Den ligger för nära land.Mysteriet i Skärgården, episode 1
Det låg lite utanför byn.Mysteriet i Skärgården, episode 3
"Och det låg i Eriks bil."Midsommarmordet, episode 3

ligga conjugation