Åt in Swedish has three functions: it is used as verb, preposition and as part of adverbial and verbal phrases. As a verb, åt means ‘ate’ – the past tense of eat. As a preposition, åt means ‘to, for, about, towards’.
One of the defining works of V.S. Naipaul’s five decades of writing is the novel ‘A House for Mr Biswas’. The book is translated to Swedish and its title is ‘Ett hus åt Mr Biswas’. In the Swedish title of the book, you can notice the usage of ‘åt’.
Åt as the verb:
| INIFINITIVE | IMPERATIVE | PRESENT TENSE | PAST TENSE | PAST PARTICIPLE |
| Infinitiv | Imperativ | Presens | Pretreritum | Supinum |
| To eat | Eat | Eat
Eats Eating |
Ate | Eaten |
| Att äta | Ät | Äter | Åt | Ätit |
| Äter | ||||
| Äter |
Åt as the preposition:
Åt as the preposition corresponds to till, at, to about, towards’.
The preposition ‘åt’ states the subject of an activity such as in: get sitt stöd å ten sak (SUPPORT SOMETHING OR GIVE ONE’S SUPPORT TO SOMETHING’, gladja sig åt (BE HAPPY AT OR ABOUT).
Åt: TOWARDS, TO:
GO IN THE OTHER DIRECTION: gå åt andra hållet
STEP ASIDE: gå åt sidan
THE HOUSE IS TO THE NORTH OF Sweden: huset ligger åt norr om Sverige.
Åt also functions as the adverb, and corresponds to ‘at’:
GET AT, REACH, GET HOLD OF: komma åt
TAKE SOMETHING TO HEART, FEEL GUILTY: ta åt sig
BE TIGHT, BE A TIGHT FIT: sitta åt
ÅT as part of the phrasal verbs:
Bär sig åt: BEHAVE
Drar åt: TIGHTEN
Dra åt svångremmen: TIGHTEN ONE’S BELT
Går åt; BE NEEDED, BE CONSUMED
Kommer åt: GET AT, GET HOLD OF
Klämmer åt: PUNISH, CLAMP DOWN
Sitter åt: BE TOO TIGHT, BE TIGHT, A TIGHT FIT
Smiter åt: BE A TIGHT FIT, FIT TIGHT (INTO SOMETHING)
Tar åt sig: TAKE TO HEART
Ägnar sig åt: SPEND TIME WITH, DEVEOTE ONESELF TO
