försenas

Försenas is the reflexive passive form of the Swedish verb försena, meaning to become late or to be delayed. It is used to describe something that is running behind schedule rather than to indicate who caused the delay. In practice, the subject of the sentence is the thing experiencing the delay, for example: tåget försenas = the train is delayed.

Grammatically,försenas appears in the present tense as a passive form. The past tense is försenades, and the present perfect passive is har försenats. The active counterpart is försena, meaning to cause to be late. The agent of the delay can be expressed with av, for example: tåget försenas av tekniska problem, or the agent can be omitted when the cause is general or obvious.

Usage notes: the term is common in contexts such as transportation reporting, project updates, and logistics. It describes an outcome (delay) rather than an intentional action by a subject. For emphasis on the cause, phrases with av or på grund av are often used, e.g., försenas av väderförhållanden, försenad leverans.

Related terms include försening (a delay), försenad (delayed, past participle), and försenande (delaying). These forms are connected to the same root and are frequently used in news, schedules, and everyday speech to describe late arrivals, postponed events, or disrupted processes.