måste

See also: maste and mäste

Swedish

Alternative forms

• moste (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle Low German moste, past tense of môten, from Old Saxon motan.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

måste (preterite måste, supine måst, no infinitive)

1. (auxiliary) must, have to

Usage notes

• Often used with an implied gå (“walk”), åka (“drive”), följa (“follow”), or the like. See ska, which works identically.
• The form måste is used for both present tense and past tense. Only very rarely is the supine form måst used, and the infinitive måsta exists in a few dialects but is not at all recognized in standard Swedish.
• The meaning of måste together with the negation adverb inte (“not”) differs from the meaning of must together with not in English. While must not means "is not allowed to", måste inte means "does not have to". Must not is chiefly expressed as får inte.

Conjugation

Conjugation of måste (irregular)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	—		—
Supine	måst		—
Imperative	—		—
Imper. plural1	—		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	måste	måste	—	—
Ind. plural1	måste	måste	—	—
Subjunctive2	måste	måste	—	—
	Participles
Present participle	—
Past participle	—
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Noun

måste n

1. (informal) a must; something that is mandatory or required, an obligation, a duty

   jag lägger måstena åt sidan idag

   I'm putting my duties aside today

Declension

Declension of måste
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	måste	måstet	måsten	måstena
Genitive	måstes	måstets	måstens	måstenas

Further reading

• måste in Svensk ordbok.