övervakades

Övervakades is a Swedish verb form meaning "was monitored" or "was supervised." It is the past passive form of the verb övervaka, which means to monitor, oversee, or supervise. The word is used when the subject is the recipient of monitoring by another agent, which is often introduced with the preposition av, as in "den övervakades av polisen" (it was monitored by the police).

In Swedish, the past passive is formed by the finite verb ending in -des for many verbs in the preterite tense, so övervakades is the past passive of övervaka. The agent may be omitted or left unspecified, while the agent can also be indicated with an av-phrase, for example "övervakades av säkerhetstjänsten" (monitored by the security service).

Etymology and related terms: the prefix över- means "over" or "above," and vak(a) is related to watching or guarding. The noun form is övervakning (surveillance or monitoring). Related verbs include övervaka (to monitor) and övervakad (monitored, the past participle).

Usage notes: övervakades appears in historical, legal, journalistic, and everyday contexts to describe past surveillance or supervision. It is commonly used in discussions of privacy, security measures, compliance regimes, or investigative reporting. The passive construction emphasizes the action on the subject rather than the agent performing the action.

Examples: Kamerorna övervakades hela natten. Fallet övervakades av polisen. The agent performing the monitoring is often unspecified, but may be stated as av polisen, av säkerhetstjänsten, eller av ett övervakningssystem.