överta

Överta is a Swedish verb meaning to take over or to assume control or ownership of something, typically in business or organizational contexts. It is a transitive verb and usually requires a direct object, for example, “Företaget övertar ett konkurrerande bolag.” It can also describe taking over responsibilities or duties, such as “övertaga ansvaret för projektet.”

Conjugation and forms can be described as follows: the infinitive is överta; the present tense is övertar; the simple past is övertog; the supine (or perfect participle) is övertagit. The passive present form is övertas, as in “bolaget övertas av ett annat företag.” These forms follow standard patterns for Swedish -a verbs with a stem ending in -tag-.

Usage and scope: överta is commonly employed to describe corporate takeovers, mergers, and changes in leadership or ownership. It also appears in contexts where responsibilities, operations, or functions are transferred from one party to another. In journalism and legal language, överta can appear alongside related terms such as förvärv (acquisition) and övertagande (the act of taking over).

Etymology and related terms: the verb is formed from the prefix över- (over, across) and ta (to take), a productive Swedish construction for indicating transfer or crossing boundaries. Related nouns include övertagande (the act of taking over) and övertag (in certain senses, the upper hand or advantage). The common phrasal form ta över is widely used in everyday Swedish to express the same idea.