Lärdes

Lärdes is a Swedish verb form that appears as the past tense of the passive voice of the verb lära/lära sig. It expresses that learning occurred or that something was learned, without specifying who performed the learning.

Origin and related forms: The root lä- comes from Old Norse lærðr, related to the adjective lärd (educated, knowledgeable) and to the noun phrase de lärda (the learned). In Danish and Norwegian, cognate forms such as lærdes exist. In Swedish grammar, present passive is lärs and past passive is lärdes.

Usage: In modern Swedish, lärdes is most common in formal or literary contexts. In everyday speech, speakers typically use constructions like man lärde sig (one learned) or det lärde sig. The passive läres/ lärdes tends to appear in expressions where the agent is not specified, for example with av erfarenheten lärdes vi att försummelse leder till misstag, or Det lärdes snabbt att det var farligt. The form is therefore a stylistic option rather than a frequent everyday usage.

See also: lärd (learned, educated), de lärda (the learned), lärdom (lesson, knowledge), lära (to learn, to teach), läras (to be learned, passive infinitive).