lånade

Lånade is the simple past tense form of the Swedish verb låna, meaning to borrow or to lend. It is used to describe a completed action in the past and can refer to either borrowing something or lending something, depending on the sentence structure and context. For example, jag lånade en bok av henne means I borrowed a book from her, while jag lånade ut bilen till min bror means I lent the car to my brother.

Etymology and forms: låna comes from the Nordic language family, with roots in Old Norse lan. The form lånade illustrates a common Swedish past tense pattern where the stem ends in a consonant and the suffix -ade marks the preterite. The verb also has a past participle form used with perfect tenses, namely lånat, as in har lånat (have borrowed) or hade lånat (had borrowed).

Usage notes: In ordinary narration, lånade can take an object denoting what was borrowed. When expressing lending more explicitly, Swedish often uses the phrasal verb låna ut, as in lånade ut, to indicate that the subject provided something to someone else. Past tense examples include Jag lånade ut boken till min vän eller Hon lånade pengar av banken. The distinction between borrowing and lending is maintained by the use of låna ut for the act of lending.

Cross-language notes: In Danish and Norwegian, the cognate past tense is typically lånte, which is a different historical form but serves a similar function. The corresponding noun for a loan is lån.

Overall, lånade is a versatile past tense form central to describing past borrowing and lending actions in Swedish.