gråta

Gråta is a Swedish verb meaning to cry, i.e., to shed tears as a response to strong emotions such as sadness, pain, or joy. It is typically intransitive, but can be used with prepositional phrases like gråta över något (to cry about something) or with the phrasal verb gråta ut (to cry one’s heart out). The noun gråt refers to the act or sound of crying.

Conjugation and forms:

- Infinitive: gråta

- Present: gråter

- Past simple: grät

- Supine: gråtit

- Perfect participle: gråtit

- Imperative: gråt

- Present participle (adjective form): gråtande

Usage notes:

Gråta is commonly used to describe crying in everyday speech and in literature. It can describe spontaneous tears, but also more prolonged crying. The phrase gråta över något expresses mourning or lamenting about a situation. Gråta ut is used when someone vents or releases their emotions by crying. The expression gråt or gråten is the related noun form, referring to the act of crying or to tears.

Examples:

- Hon gråter när hon tittar på det sorgliga avsnittet. (She cries when she watches the sad episode.)

- Efter nyheten grät han länge. (After the news he cried for a long time.)

- Hon grät ut sina bekymmer för vännen. (She cried out her worries to her friend.)

Etymology and cognates:

Gråta has cognates in other Scandinavian languages, such as Norwegian gråta and Danish græde, reflecting shared Germanic roots. The verb shows its characteristic vowel changes in the past tense (grät) and maintains a distinct present form (gråter) in modern Swedish.