övertar

Övertar is the present tense form of the Swedish verb övertaga, meaning to take over, to assume control or responsibility. The term is used in a variety of contexts where one party assumes duties or ownership from another—such as during mergers and acquisitions, when management changes hands, or in legal and administrative handovers. It conveys active involvement in the transfer and is often paired with the object that is being taken over. Example: ett företag som köper upp en konkurrent övertar ledningen och verksamheten.

Grammatically, övertar is used with a subject in the nominative and a direct object indicating what is taken over. The infinitive is övertaga; the past tense is övertog, and the supine (past participle form used in perfect constructions) is övertagit. Frequent constructions include, for instance, “företaget övertar ledningen” or “hon övertog ansvaret.”

Etymology and cognates: the verb is built from the prefix över- meaning “over” or “up” and the verb taga (to take). This reflects a common Germanic root shared with neighboring Scandinavian languages, where forms such as Norwegian overtar and Danish overtage show the same underlying concept of taking over. The word appears primarily in formal or semi-formal Swedish and is widely understood in business, governmental, and organizational contexts.