öppnas

Öppnas is a Swedish verb form that translates roughly to “is opened” or “is being opened.” It is the present passive form of öppna, meaning to open. In Swedish, the passive voice can be formed with the suffix -s, so öppnas describes a state in which something undergoes the action of opening, rather than an agent performing it.

The form is used with a subject that is affected by the opening. The agent (the one who opens) can be omitted or indicated with av (by). For example: Dörren öppnas av vakten. Vägen öppnas nästa vecka. The active counterpart is öppnar, meaning “opens,” which describes an agent performing the action.

Öppnas is common in descriptions, manuals, signage, and reports where the emphasis is on the resulting state rather than who performs the action. It appears in a wide range of contexts, from everyday speech to technical writing.

Etymology: The -s ending is a productive Swedish passive form used to create passive sentences from infinitives. Öppnas comes from öppna plus the passive suffix -s and is related to other passive forms such as byggs (“is built”) and stängs (“is closed”).