Beskriven

Beskriven is a Swedish past participle of the verb beskriva, meaning to describe. It denotes that something has been described and is commonly used in passive constructions, for example: Boken är beskriven av författaren. In this use, it functions as part of a verbal periphrase with a form of vara or har, indicating that the description has been carried out.

Beskriven can also appear as an adjective meaning “described”. In such cases it refers to something that has been described in a text or discourse, for instance in phrases like the described details or the described scene, where the form may vary to agree with the noun’s number.

Plural and agreement: the participle inflects to agree with the noun it modifies. For a plural subject, you typically see beskrivna, as in Detaljerna är beskrivna i rapporten. The singular form beskriven is used with singular nouns.

Origins and cognates: beskriv- comes from the verb beskriva, which is cognate with similar forms in other Scandinavian languages and with the Latin-derived English word describe. In Norwegian Bokmål and Danish, the corresponding participle is beskrevet, performing a parallel function.

Use in writing: beskriv en is most common in formal or descriptive text, such as academic writing, journalism, and literary descriptions. It signals that the described state or content has already been conveyed or recorded.

See also: beskriva (to describe), beskrivning (description), beskrevet (Norwegian/Danish cognate).