beskriva
Meaning
describe; depict, portray; describe
In Swedish: berätta om, redogöra för, framställa
Conjugation
| Infinitive | att beskriva | to describe |
|---|---|---|
| Present | beskriver | jag beskriver |
| Past | beskrev | jag beskrev |
| Supine | beskrivit | used after har / hade |
| Perfect | har beskrivit | jag har beskrivit |
| Past perfect | hade beskrivit | jag hade beskrivit |
| Future | ska beskriva | or: kommer att beskriva |
| Conditional | skulle beskriva | jag skulle beskriva |
| Imperative | beskriv! | a command |
| Present participle | beskrivande | -ing, used as an adjective |
| Past participle | beskriven | used like an adjective, and agrees like one |
Passive (-s form)
| Infinitive | beskrivas |
|---|---|
| Present | beskrivs |
| Past | beskrevs |
| Supine | beskrivits |
Group 4: strong and irregular verbs. Strong verbs change their vowel and have a supine in -it (skriva, skrev, skrivit); irregular ones such as göra and ha follow no pattern. Both have to be learned one by one. Swedish verbs don't change for person: jag, du, hon, vi and de all use beskriver. See the four verb groups explained.
Practise beskriva
1 / 2Yesterday I … (beskriva). Which is the past tense?
beskriva in a sentence
- metoden beskrivs i en rapportthe method is described in a report
- han kan bäst beskrivas som en välgödd turisthe could perhaps be best described as an overfed tourist
- jorden beskriver en ellipsformad bana runt solenthe earth describes an elliptical path round the sun
Questions
What does beskriva mean in English?
beskriva means “describe; depict, portray, describe”.
What is the past tense of beskriva?
The past tense of beskriva is beskrev (“jag beskrev”). The supine is beskrivit, used in “jag har beskrivit”.
What is the present tense of beskriva?
beskriver, the same for every person: jag beskriver, du beskriver, vi beskriver.
Similar words
förklaraskildra
Origin
From Old Swedish beskriva, from Middle Low German beschrîven, bescrîven, equivalent to be- + skriva (“to write”).
Nearby common words
beskriva is number 1,810 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.
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Sources: Folkets lexikon (CC BY-SA 2.5) and Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), edited by Lingolib. Recording: Wikimedia Commons. Browse the dictionary