tënde

Tände is the simple past tense (preterite) form of the Swedish verb tända, which means to light or ignite something, or to switch on a device. It is used to describe actions completed in the past, such as lighting a flame, candle, or lamp, or turning on equipment.

Grammatical forms and usage:

- Infinitive: tända

- Present tense: tänder (I light, you light, he/she lights, etc.)

- Simple past: tände (I lit, you lit, he lit, etc.)

- Past participle (with har/has): tänt (I have lit)

- Imperative: tänd (Light! / Turn on!)

Examples:

- Jag tände ljuset när det mörknade. (I lit the light when it was getting dark.)

- Har du tänt lampan? (Have you turned on the lamp?)

- Tänd lampan innan du går in. (Light the lamp before you go in.)

Usage notes:

- tända is commonly used with objects like ljus (candles), eld (fire), lampor (lamps), eller elektronik när man slår på dem (turning on electronics).

- The past tense tände is also used in narrations and reports of past events, often in combination with tidsuttryck (time expressions) such as igår, förra veckan, eller när.

Etymology and cognates:

- Tända comes from the historic Germanic language family, with cognates in nearby Scandinavian languages, such as Danish tenne and Norwegian tenne, and is related to the broader family of words for lighting or ignition. The form tända and its past tense tände share roots with these cognates.

See also:

- tänt, the past participle used with har to form perfect tenses

- tändare (lighter), tändsticka (match), tändnings- (relating to ignition)