svømte

Svømte is the simple past tense form of the verb svømme in Danish and Norwegian Bokmål, meaning “swam.” It is used to describe a swimming action that was completed in the past and appears in both narrative writing and everyday speech.

In Danish, the infinitive is svømme and the present tense is svømmer. The simple past tense is svømte, as in Jeg svømte i går. The corresponding past participle used with the auxiliary har to form perfect tenses is svømmet (har svømmet). In Norwegian Bokmål, the infinitive is also svømme and the present tense is svømmer; the simple past is svømte, and the past participle is svømt, used with har to form the present perfect (har svømt). The word is written with the same base letters in both languages, with the diacritic ø appearing in the past tense.

Etymology and related forms: svømme belongs to the North Germanic language group. It has cognates in related languages, including Swedish simma, which shares the same basic meaning and verb class, though the exact spellings differ by language. The form svømte is characteristic of the simple past in both Danish and Bokmål, while the past participles svømmet (Danish) and svømt (Norwegian) are used in perfect constructions.

See also: svømme (infinitive), svømming/svømming (swimming), svømmer (present tense form).

Usage notes: svømte is common in everyday language and literature for reporting past swimming actions. It functions as a straightforward past tense marker and is typically preferred in narrative recounting of events.