stått

Stått is the past participle of the verb stå, meaning to stand, in Swedish and Norwegian. It is used with auxiliary verbs to form perfect and pluperfect tenses, indicating a standing state or action that has been completed relative to a reference time. The form is written with the letter å and a double t.

In practice, stått appears in phrases like jag har stått i kö hela dagen (Swedish: I have stood in line all day) or jeg har stått her hele dagen (Norwegian Bokmål: I have stood here all day). It also appears in the pluperfect or past perfect constructions, such as hon hade stått där länge (She had stood there for a long time) in Swedish. The Norwegian equivalents follow the same pattern with har/hadde stått to signal completed standing in the past.

Etymology and orthography: stått is a past participle derived from the verb stå, part of the common Germanic family of verbs for standing. The -tt ending is a typical participial suffix in Swedish and Norwegian writing. The word is distinct from the simple past forms of stå, which in both languages are separate lexical forms (for example, Swedish stod for “stood”).

Usage notes: stått is primarily a literary and standard part of compound tenses rather than a standalone past event. It frequently appears in descriptions of position, posture, or persistence, such as “has stood for a long time” or “stood in line.” Cross-linguistically, Swedish and Norwegian share the form and function of stått, reflecting their close inherited vocabulary for common verbs.

See also: stå, stod, har, hade.