kvitta

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• kvittet

Verb

kvitta

1. inflection of kvitte:
   1. simple past
   2. past participle

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish qvitta, from Old French quiter, from Latin quiētāre.

Germanic cognates include Dutch kwijten (“to quit”), Low German quitten (“to quit”), German quitten, quittieren, Danish kvitte, Icelandic kvitta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkvɪtːa/

Verb

kvitta (present kvittar, preterite kvittade, supine kvittat, imperative kvitta)

1. (impersonal) to not matter

   Det kvittar

   It doesn't matter

   Det kvittar vad jag gör. Juryn sågar mig ändå.

   It doesn't matter what I do. The jury pans me anyway.

   Det kan kvitta

   It's not important / It doesn't really matter / It's no matter ("It may (be allowed to, be let to) not matter")

   • 1990, Claes Eriksson (lyrics and music), “Gôtt å leva [Gött att leva] [Good to live/be alive]”, in Det ska va gôtt å leva [Det ska vara gött att leva – ô signifies a dialectal vowel sound] [It should be good to live/be alive], performed by Anders Eriksson, Jan Rippe:

     Livet är gött [colloquial or dialectal form of gott], världen är stor. Här sitter vi, jag och min bror. Fisken i sjön sover nog nu. Den är nog trött. Eller vad tror du? Det ska va' [vara] gött å [att] leva, annars kan det kvitta. Fint å [att] leva, annars kan det kvitta. Lätt å [att] leva, annars kan det kvitta. Spring inte runt och vela, då sabbar du det hela. Spring inte runt och veva. Det ska va' [vara] gött, gött, gött, gött å [att] leva.

     [The] life is good, the world is big. Here we sit, me and my brother. The fish in the lake is probably sleeping now. It is probably tired. Or what do you think? It should be good to live, otherwise there's no point ("otherwise it may (might as well) not matter" (what happens or the like)). Nice to live, otherwise there's no point. Easy to live, otherwise there's no point. Don't run around and vacillate, then you ruin the whole thing. Don't run around and wave. It should be good, good, good, good to live.

Conjugation

Conjugation of kvitta (weak)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	kvitta		kvittas
Supine	kvittat		kvittats
Imperative	kvitta		—
Imper. plural1	kvitten		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	kvittar	kvittade	kvittas	kvittades
Ind. plural1	kvitta	kvittade	kvittas	kvittades
Subjunctive2	kvitte	kvittade	kvittes	kvittades
	Participles
Present participle	kvittande
Past participle	kvittad
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Related terms

• kvitt
• kvittera

See also

• egal
• spela roll
• vilket som

References

• kvitta in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• kvitta in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• kvitta in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

• aktivt