fascinerar

Fascinerar is a Swedish verb meaning to fascinate or to captivate, to cause someone to be strongly attracted or intrigued. It can be used transitively as in “hon fascinerar publiken” (she fascinates the audience) or in impersonal constructions such as “det fascinerar mig” (it fascinates me). The sense typically conveys a strong, positive hold on attention, curiosity, or admiration.

Etymology and cognates: The verb is a loanword that arrived in Swedish from Romance languages, commonly traced to Latin fascinare, meaning to enchant or cast a spell. Through French and other channels, it spread to Swedish and its Nordic neighbors, where cognates such as Danish “fascinere” and Norwegian “fascinere” exist with similar meanings.

Conjugation and forms: Like many Swedish -era verbs, fascinerar follows a regular pattern in modern usage. The infinitive is fasciner(a), the present tense fascinerar, the past tense fascinerade, and the supine fascinerat. The present participle is fascinerande, and the past participle is fascinerad. These forms support a range of constructions, including “det fascinerande verket” (the fascinating work) as an attributive adjective.

Usage notes: Fascinerar is common in both formal and informal registers and is often used to describe art, science, stories, people, or events that seize attention. While generally neutral to positive, the word can carry a sense of enchantment or wonder, depending on context. Related adjectives include fascinerande (fascinating) and fascinerad (fascinated).