Hållit

Hållit is the past participle and past tense form of the Swedish verb hålla, meaning to hold, keep, maintain, or preserve. In modern Swedish, hållit is used with auxiliary verbs to form perfect and pluperfect tenses, such as har hållit (have held) and hade hållit (had held). As a participle, it also appears in compound phrases and can function in adjective-like constructions, for example in hållit fast vid en plan (st picked up) or hållit i något (kept hold of something).

Usage and meanings

The term covers several related senses depending on context: physically holding an object, keeping something in a certain state or condition, maintaining a commitment or promise, and lasting for a duration. Common expressions include har hållit i många timmar (has held on for many hours), har hållit sitt löfte (has kept his or her promise), and har hållit ett tal (has given a speech). The reflexive form hål la sig används in phrases like hålla sig lugn (to keep calm) and har hållit sig borta (has kept away).

Grammar notes

Hållit forms part of the perfect and pluperfect tenses in combination with har and hade. It is the standard participle in contemporary Swedish; a form sometimes encountered in older texts or dialects, hållt, is considered archaic or nonstandard in modern Swedish.

Etymology and related terms

The verb hålla originates from Old Norse and is cognate with other Germanic languages’ terms for holding or maintaining. The participle hållit preserves the stem and vowel quality characteristic of modern Swedish. Related concepts include upprätthålla (to uphold), hålla (to hold), and hållbarhet (durability or sustainability).