Köptes

Köptes is the preterite passive form of the Swedish verb köpa, meaning that something was bought in the past. It signals a completed action in which the doer of the buying is not specified or is deemed unimportant. In Swedish, the past passive is commonly formed by adding the suffix -des to the past participle, as in köptes (was bought) or såldes (was sold). The construction can be used with a present or undefined agent introduced with av.

In usage, köptes appears mainly in written or formal Swedish, such as historical accounts, news reporting, or legal and administrative texts. In everyday speech, speakers often prefer the active voice: en person köpte något (a person bought something). The passive form is still useful when the focus lies on the object or the event rather than on who performed the action, or when the agent is unknown.

Examples illustrate its function: Huset köptes av ett danskt företag. (The house was bought by a Danish company.) Bilen köptes av en privatperson. (The car was bought by a private individual.)

Relation to related forms: köps is the present passive form meaning "is bought," while köptes is specifically the preterite passive. The word is etymologically derived from fühlen verb köparens root köpta, with the historical passive suffix -des, a common pattern in Swedish verb inflection.