forstås

Forstås is a verb form used in Norwegian Bokmål, Danish, and other North Germanic languages as the present passive or impersonal form of the verb forstå, meaning to understand. In this usage, forstår is the base verb and forstårs functions as “is understood” or “is clear.” In Swedish, the cognate form förstås is used with a similar meaning, often appearing as a sentence adverb meaning “of course” or “naturally.”

Usage and meaning

Forstås is typically employed to indicate that a statement or assumption is widely accepted, obvious, or accepted without question. It can signal tacit agreement or inevitability, especially in formal or journalistic contexts. The form is finite and can be used with a subject that is understood to be the thing being understood; if necessary, the actor or agent can be introduced with a prepositional phrase such as av någon.

Grammar and variants

As a present-tense passive form, forstås does not require an auxiliary verb to express a state of understanding. It can function in impersonal constructions as well. The word is closely related to the noun forståelse (understanding) and to related adjectives such as forståelig (understandable) in the same language family. The Danish and Norwegian spellings are forstårs, while Swedish uses förstås with a diacritic over the o.

See also

Related terms include forstå (to understand), forståelse (understanding), and forståelig/begriplig (understandable). The concept overlaps with similar expressions across the Scandinavian languages that convey that something is self-evident or widely accepted.