Overlevet

Overlevet is the Danish past participle of the verb overleve, meaning to survive or outlive. It is used to form compound tenses, typically with the auxiliary har (has) or havde (had). For example: han har overlevet (he has survived), de havde overlevet katastrofen (they had survived the catastrophe). The form functions as part of the verb’s conjugation rather than as a standalone finite verb.

In Danish, the past participle overlevet is commonly employed in perfect tenses to indicate the completion of survival or endurance through an event. It is not the ordinary present tense form; that comes from the finite verb overlever (he/she/it survives). The participle can also appear in passive-like constructions or descriptive phrases when used in combination with auxiliary verbs.

A related word is overlevende, which is the noun (or adjective) for a survivor or the surviving person. For instance, en overlevende means “a survivor.” The word overlevet does not itself mean “survivor,” but rather describes the state of having survived in a completed sense.

Etymology and related forms: overlevet is built from the prefix over- plus leve, meaning to live. The prefix adds the sense of having endured something beyond the ordinary life course. In other Nordic languages, cognate forms exist with slight spelling differences, such as Swedish överleva and överlevt, and Norwegian counterparts with similar roots.

See also: overleve, overlevende, Danish verb conjugation.