illustrerade

Illustrerade is a Swedish word with two main grammatical functions. It is the simple past tense of the verb illustrera, meaning to illustrate, and it also appears as the past passive participle used as an adjective in the plural form. In practical terms, illustrerade can denote a past action performed by a subject (hon illustrerade boken; de illustrerade bilderna) or describe something that has illustrations (flera illustrerade böcker; de illustrerade kapitlen).

Etymology and related forms: The verb illustrera comes from the Latin illustrare, via the French illustrer in many languages, with Swedish adopting a similar development. The participle forms follow standard Swedish patterns: illustrated as an adjective is illustrerad (singular) or illustrerade (plural), with neuter forms such as illustrerat. The same root yields phrases like “att illustrera en poäng” (to illustrate a point), used both literally and metaphorically.

Usage notes: In publishing and journalism, illustrerade is commonly used to indicate that a text contains pictures or diagrams. As a verb, it is used for past actions of adding illustrations. As an adjective, it functions much like an English “illustrated” and is declined to agree with gender and number (en illustrerad bok, flera illustrerade böcker, de illustrerade kapitlen).

Examples:

- Hon illustrerade boken med färgbilder.

- Flera illustrerade böcker låg i hyllan.

- De illustrerade kapitlen hjälpte läsaren att följa handlingen.

See also: illustration, illustrationsteknik, illustrerat.