Ruinerte

Ruinerte is the past tense form of the Norwegian verb ruinere, meaning to ruin or destroy. It is used to describe something that became ruined or damaged as a result of an action in the past. The form is common in both Bokmål and Nynorsk Norwegian. The verb originates from the French ruiner, which in turn comes from the Latin ruina, meaning ruin or collapse. The present tense is ruinerer, and the past participle is ruinert, which is used with have/has to form perfect tenses (har ruinert).

Usage and nuances:

Ruinerte can refer to physical destruction, such as buildings or infrastructure, as well as to figurative ruin, including finances, plans, or reputation. It is a straightforward past tense construction and is typically used in active voice, for example, “Brannen ruinerte bygningen” (The fire ruined the building) or “Investoren ruinerte prosjektet” (The investor ruined the project).

Grammatical notes:

In addition to ruinerte as the simple past, the past participle ruinert is used in perfect tenses (e.g., har ruinert). The passive form of “to be ruined” is typically expressed with ble ruinert (e.g., bygningen ble ruinert), rather than using ruinerte as a passive past participle.

Examples:

- Brannen ruinerte bygningen.

- Slik beslutning ruinerte selskapets økonomi.

- Prosjektet ble ruinert av misforhold i kontraktene.