hittades

Hittades is a Swedish verb form used as the passive past tense of hitta, meaning to find. It translates roughly as was found or were found and is used when the thing discovered is the subject of the sentence, with the discoverer often unspecified or stated with a prepositional phrase (for example, av polisen).

Formation and grammar: Hittades is formed by adding the passive suffix -des to the past tense stem of hitta. It is the standard way Swedish expresses a completed discovery in the passive voice. The corresponding active past tense is hittade (he/she/it found). The related passive participle is hittad, and the perfect passive forms, such as har hittats or hade hittats, indicate that something has been found or had been found.

Usage and examples: Hittades is common in formal and informative prose, including news reports, legal or forensic contexts, and scientific writing. Examples: Ett fel hittades i rapporten. (An error was found in the report.) Mannen hittades av polisen i natt. (The man was found by the police last night.) In contrast to existence-focused verbs like fanns (there was/there were), hittades emphasizes discovery.

Notes on related forms: Hittades should not be confused with hittas (present passive: is found) or har hittats (present perfect passive: has/have been found). The choice among hittas, hittades, and har hittats depends on the temporal frame and whether the action is ongoing, completed, or relevant to the present.