nyttja

Swedish

Related to nytta (“benefit”), njuta. From Old Swedish nytia, from Proto-Germanic *nutjōną

nyttja (present nyttjar, preterite nyttjade, supine nyttjat, imperative nyttja)

to use, to make use of for benefit
att nyttja eller utnyttja ett erbjudande
to use [make gainful use of] or take advantage of an offer [to illustrate the difference – often more or less interchangeable, but utnyttja might imply exploitation when contrasted with nyttja in this particular example, like in English]
to use ((legal) drugs)
Synonym: (more idiomatic for illegal drugs) bruka

nyttja tobak
use tobacco

nyttja alkohol
consume alcohol

Recommendations against the use of this word in legal prose, together with suggested replacements, are found in Svarta listan : Ord och fraser som kan ersättas i författningsspråk (4th ed., 2011), published by the government of Sweden. The recommendations apply primarily to governmental texts; they may or may not apply to other legal prose.

Conjugation of nyttja (weak)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	nyttja		nyttjas
Supine	nyttjat		nyttjats
Imperative	nyttja		—
Imper. plural¹	nyttjen		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	nyttjar	nyttjade	nyttjas	nyttjades
Ind. plural¹	nyttja	nyttjade	nyttjas	nyttjades
Subjunctive²	nyttje	nyttjade	nyttjes	nyttjades
	Participles
Present participle	nyttjande
Past participle	nyttjad
¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.