Betala

Betala is a common verb meaning to pay in Scandinavian languages, notably Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian. The word is used to describe the act of giving money in exchange for goods or services.

In Swedish, the infinitive betala is used with pronouns and objects to form phrases such as Jag betalar räkningen, meaning I pay the bill. The verb inflects for tense and mood, with present, past, and supine forms. For example, present is betalar, past is betalade, and the supine is betalat. In perfect tenses it combines with har, as in har betalat, meaning has paid.

In Danish and Norwegian, cognate forms exist (Danish betale and Norwegian bokmål betale) with similar meanings and regular conjugation patterns. These languages use forms that align with their respective tense systems, and the core meaning remains the same: to give money in exchange for goods or services.

Usage notes include its prevalence in everyday speech, commercial contexts, and written language. Betala also appears in user interfaces and payment terminology as the translation for “pay” on buttons and forms. It is primarily a verb and is not commonly used as a noun in standard usage.

See also: payment, paying, payer.