älska

See also: ælska

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish ælska, from Old Norse ælska (Compare Old West Norse elska). Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *aliskōną (“to care for, cultivate, cherish”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛlˌska/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation (inflected forms): älsk‧ar

Verb

älska (present älskar, preterite älskade, supine älskat, imperative älska)

1. (usually transitive, sometimes intransitive) to love (romantically or otherwise – same tone as in English)

   Jag älskar dig

   I love you

   Jag älskar mina barn

   I love my children

   Jag älskar deras nya kebabsås

   I love their new kebab sauce

   • 1969, Lasse Berghagen (lyrics and music), “Teddybjörnen Fredriksson [Fredriksson the teddy bear]”‎^[1]:

     Teddybjörnen Fredriksson, ja, så hette han. En gång var han bara min, och vi älskade varann. Teddybjörnen Fredriksson, hans nos den var av garn. Ja, han var min bästa vän när jag var ett litet barn.

     Fredriksson the teddy bear, yes, that was his name. Once he was just mine, and we loved each other. Fredriksson the teddy bear, his nose was made of yarn. Yes, he was my best friend when I was a little child.

   • 1994, “Älska mig [Love me]”, in Sanningens morgon [The morning of truth]‎^[2], performed by Köttgrottorna:

     Älska mig. Jag vill inte ha konflikter. Älska mig. Jag vill vara duktig. Älska mig. Mig och mig och ingen annan. Älska mig. Ge mig kärlek.

     Love me. I don't want conflicts. Love me. I want to be good at things. Love me. Me and me and no one else. Love me. Give me love.

   • 1995, Peter Grönvall, Maria Rådsten, Nanne Grönvall (lyrics and music), “Det vackraste [The most beautiful thing ["thing" from being nominalized]]”‎^[3]performed by Cecilia Vennersten:

     Det är en rikedom att få älska och att älskas.

     It is a richness to get to love and to be loved.

2. (intransitive) to make love

   De älskade med varandra

   They made love to each other

   De älskade uppe på höskullen

   They made love in the hayloft

Conjugation

Conjugation of älska (weak)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	älska		älskas
Supine	älskat		älskats
Imperative	älska		—
Imper. plural1	älsken		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	älskar	älskade	älskas	älskades
Ind. plural1	älska	älskade	älskas	älskades
Subjunctive2	älske	älskade	älskes	älskades
	Participles
Present participle	älskande
Past participle	älskad
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Coordinate terms

• kär
• kärlek (“love”) (see there for derivatives)

Derived terms

• förälska
• förälskad
• förälskelse
• älskad
• älskare
• älskarinna
• älsklig
• älskling
• älskvärd

 

References

• älska in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• älska in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• Fula Ordboken

Anagrams

• läska