sjunka

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish siunka, from Old East Norse *sinkwa, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷ- (“to fall, sink”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɧɵŋːˌka/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

sjunka (present sjunker, preterite sjönk, supine sjunkit, imperative sjunk)

1. (intransitive) to sink

   Skeppet sjunker

   The ship is sinking

2. (intransitive) to lower, to decrease

   Inflationen har sjunkit mer än förväntat

   Inflation has gone down more than expected

   (literally, “The inflation has decreased more than expected”)

3. (intransitive, with ihop (“together”)) to collapse (mainly of people)

   Jag sjönk ihop på golvet

   I collapsed onto the floor

Usage notes

• Sense 3 often has nuance of exhaustion or defeat and generally implies preservation of consciousness and a more deliberate action than a fall, hence it does not apply to buildings and the like.

Conjugation

Conjugation of sjunka (class 2 strong)

	active		passive
infinitive	sjunka		—
supine	sjunkit		—
imperative	sjunk		—
imper. plural1	sjunken		—
	present	past	present	past
indicative	sjunker	sjönk	—	—
ind. plural1	sjunka	sjönko	—	—
subjunctive2	sjunke	sjönke	—	—
present participle		sjunkande
past participle		sjunken

¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Related terms

• sänka (transitive)

References

• “sjunka”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “sjunka”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “sjunka”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• sjunka in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Anagrams

• sjukan, sjukna