Bestå

Bestå is a verb used in Norwegian Bokmål, Danish, and Swedish. It has two primary meanings in modern usage: to consist of or to be composed of, and to pass or meet the requirements of a test or exam. The verb appears in similar forms across the languages, with related conjugation patterns.

Conjugation and forms:

- Infinitive: bestå

- Present tense: Swedish and Norwegian use består; Danish uses består

- Past tense: bestod in all three languages

- Supine/perfect participle: Swedish bestått; Norwegian bestått; Danish bestået

Usage as “to consist of”:

- This sense is expressed with a construction involving av (of) in Swedish and Norwegian, and af in Danish. Examples:

- Swedish: Gruppen består av fem personer. (The group consists of five people.)

- Norwegian: Huset består av tre rom. (The house consists of three rooms.)

- Danish: Gruppen består af tre rum. (The group consists of three rooms.)

Usage as “to pass an examination”:

- In all three languages, bestå is used with the sense of meeting the requirements of a test. Examples:

- Swedish: Jag har bestått provet. (I have passed the exam.)

- Norwegian: Jeg har bestått eksamen. (I have passed the exam.)

- Danish: Jeg har bestået eksamen. (I have passed the exam.)

Etymology and cognates:

- Bestå belongs to the North Germanic verb stock, with cognates across Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian. The exact Old Norse origins are not always explicit in modern summaries, but the verb is attested in early Scandinavian texts and shares a common semantic core related to composition and successful completion of a test.

See also:

- Bestå av (to consist of) and related prepositional constructions in Scandinavian languages.