råka

Röka is a Swedish verb meaning to smoke, in particular to inhale and exhale smoke from tobacco or other substances. It is a common everyday verb used to describe the action in a variety of contexts, from casual use to health discussions.

Conjugation and forms: The infinitive is röka. Present tense röker; past tense rökte; supine rökt. Perfect forms use har rökt (has smoked). The imperative forms include Rök! and Rök inte! (don’t smoke). The present participle is rökande, used as an adjective or noun in phrases like “en rökande person” (a person who is smoking). The related noun for the act is rökning; for a person who smokes, rökare (smoker).

Usage notes: Röka is typically used with direct objects when referring to tobacco products, as in “hon röker cigaretter” (she smokes cigarettes) or “han röker en cigarr” (he smokes a cigar). In public health and policy contexts, the term appears in phrases describing smoking behavior, cessation efforts, and smoking regulations. The term includes the diacritic ö, and transliteration without diacritics yields simply “Roka” in languages that do not use umlauts.

Etymology: The verb is of Germanic origin and has cognates in other Scandinavian languages, reflecting a long-standing usage related to the act of smoking.

See also: rökning (the act of smoking), rökare (smoker), rök (smoke as a noun).