värms

Värms is the present passive form of the Swedish verb värma, meaning to warm. In standard Swedish, the passive is formed by adding the suffix -s to the present tense form of the verb, yielding värms. The passive voice conveys that the subject is being warmed by an external source rather than performing the warming itself. The agent can be introduced with av, as in vattnet värms av solen (the water is warmed by the sun). The construction with the particle upp—värms upp—is common when emphasizing the degree of warming or including a directional sense.

The passive form is often used with inanimate subjects and impersonal constructions. It is typically preferred when the focus lies on the result or state of being warmed, rather than on who performs the warming. In many contexts, especially in technical or descriptive prose, värms appears without an explicit agent, making the warming operation seem intrinsic to the subject or to the environmental conditions.

Historically and stylistically, Swedish can also express warming with active voice (värmer) or with alternative passive constructions such as blev uppvärmd/blev uppvärmt in past tense, depending on emphasis and nuance. The present passive värms remains a concise, widely understood form for denoting ongoing warming by an external cause.

See also: värma, uppvärma, passiv röst, svensk grammatik.