Säga

Säga is a Swedish verb meaning "to say" or "to tell." It is used to express utterances, statements, or reported speech and is one of the most common verbs in everyday Swedish. As an irregular verb, its conjugation does not follow a single uniform pattern, and it changes form across tenses.

Infinitive: säga; present: säger; past: sade; supine: sagt; past participle: sagt; imperative: säg. The present tense uses the form säger, and the verb combines with auxiliary verbs to form perfect and pluperfect tenses (har sagt, hade sagt).

Common constructions include säga något (to say something), säga till (to tell someone to do something or to tell someone something), and säga att (to say that). Examples: Hon säger att hon kommer senare. Vad säger du? Vi sade att vi skulle mötas klockan åtta. Säg till henne. Det sägs att det kommer att regna imorgon.

Etymology and relatives: säga comes from Old Norse segja, with cognates in other Scandinavian languages such as Danish sige, Norwegian si, and Icelandic segja. The verb is widely used in direct and indirect speech, quotations, and idiomatic expressions.

In summary, säga is a foundational Swedish verb essential for reporting speech, making statements, and quoting information, with a distinctive irregular conjugation and a range of common constructions. Related verbs include tala (to speak) and berätta (to tell).