Bestå is a prefixed strong verb that inherits its whole shape from stå ('to stand'): bestå → bestod → bestået. The prefix be- fuses to the stem, but the vowel ladder underneath is pure stå. What makes bestå worth its own page is that it carries two completely different everyday meanings, and English uses a different verb for each: 'pass' (an exam, a test) and 'consist of' (bestå af). Get these two senses straight and you have one of the most useful B1 verbs in the language.
Principal parts
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) bestå | to pass / to consist |
| Present | består | pass(es) / consist(s) |
| Past | bestod | passed / consisted |
| Past participle | bestået | passed / consisted |
| Imperative | bestå! | pass! |
Bestå is strong: the past bestod is a stem-vowel change (å → o), exactly mirroring stå → stod, and the participle bestået keeps the strong -et. There is no -ede anywhere in this verb — see Strong verbs: ablaut patterns.
Sense 1: bestå = 'pass' (an exam, a test)
When you successfully get through an exam, a test, or a trial, you bestå it. The thing you pass is a direct object — no preposition.
Hun bestod eksamen med et fint resultat.
She passed the exam with a fine grade.
Jeg består forhåbentlig køreprøven på første forsøg.
I'll hopefully pass the driving test on the first attempt.
Du skal bestå en sprogprøve, før du kan søge ind.
You have to pass a language test before you can apply.
The opposite of bestå in this sense is dumpe ('to fail/flunk'):
Han dumpede første gang, men bestod prøven anden gang.
He failed the first time but passed the test the second time.
Sense 2: bestå af = 'consist of / be made up of'
The second core meaning needs the preposition af ('of'). Bestå af tells you what the parts of something are — what it is composed of. The af is obligatory; dropping it is the single most common error English speakers make with this verb.
Holdet består af fem spillere.
The team consists of five players.
Vandet består af brint og ilt.
Water consists of hydrogen and oxygen.
Måltidet bestod af suppe, brød og en lille dessert.
The meal consisted of soup, bread and a small dessert.
There is also a closely related sense bestå i ('consist in / lie in'), used when the "parts" are an activity or an abstract point rather than physical components:
Hans arbejde består hovedsageligt i at svare på mails.
His job consists mainly in answering emails.
For more on the preposition af and how it contrasts with med and om, see Af, med and om.
Past: bestod
Vi bestod alle sammen til den skriftlige prøve.
We all passed the written test.
Kommissionen bestod af syv uafhængige eksperter.
The committee consisted of seven independent experts.
Present perfect: har bestået
Like its parent stå, bestå takes the auxiliary have in the perfect — har bestået.
Har du bestået din eksamen?
Have you passed your exam?
Kurset har hidtil bestået af tolv online-moduler.
The course has so far consisted of twelve online modules.
A fixed expression: bestå en prøve
The collocation bestå en prøve ('pass a test') is also used figuratively for any trial or test of character, much like English "stand the test."
Venskabet bestod prøven, da det blev svært.
The friendship passed the test when things got hard.
Contrast with the parent verb stå
It helps to keep bestå and bare stå side by side. Stå is physical standing or location; bestå is the abstract derivative. The conjugation, though, is identical below the prefix.
| Verb | Present | Past | Participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| stå | står | stod | stået | to stand / be located |
| bestå | består | bestod | bestået | to pass / consist of |
Eleverne stod udenfor og ventede på, om de havde bestået.
The pupils stood outside waiting to see whether they had passed.
See the full treatment of the parent verb at Stå.
Common mistakes
❌ Hun passerede eksamen i går.
Incorrect — passere means 'go past', not 'pass an exam'.
✅ Hun bestod eksamen i går.
She passed the exam yesterday.
❌ Holdet består fem spillere.
Incorrect — 'consist of' requires the preposition af.
✅ Holdet består af fem spillere.
The team consists of five players.
❌ Jeg bestod mig prøven.
Incorrect — bestå takes a plain object, never a reflexive in this sense.
✅ Jeg bestod prøven.
I passed the test.
❌ Vi beståede til eksamen.
Incorrect — bestå is strong; there is no weak -ede past.
✅ Vi bestod til eksamen.
We passed the exam.
❌ Har du bestod din eksamen?
Incorrect — the perfect needs the participle bestået, not the past bestod.
✅ Har du bestået din eksamen?
Have you passed your exam?
Key takeaways
- Bestå conjugates exactly like stå: består / bestod / bestået, strong all the way, no -ede.
- Sense 1 is 'pass' an exam — a plain direct object, never passere.
- Sense 2 is 'consist of' — and it must be bestå af; the af is not optional.
- The perfect is har bestået, with the participle, never the bare past.
Now practice Danish
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- Af, Med and Om: Of, With, AboutB1 — Three high-frequency, polysemous Danish prepositions — af (of/from/by), med (with/by), om (about/around/in) — with the verb collocations that don't translate word for word.
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