höras means "to be heard / be audible" — and, in its reciprocal sense, "to be in touch" (middle/deponent s-verb). It is the -s form of the plain verb höra ("to hear"). Unlike a clean passive, höras sits in the middle voice: Det hörs musik does not point a finger at who is doing the hearing — it simply says "music is audible," the way English uses can be heard. The same verb also runs the warmest sign-off in spoken Swedish: Vi hörs! — literally "we are heard (to each other)," but meaning "we'll be in touch / talk soon." This card covers both faces of höras, the audible one and the keep-in-touch one.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| höras | hörs | hördes | hörts | (none in use) | middle/deponent s-verb (from höra, Group 2) |
The active höra is a Group-2 verb: present hör, past hörde, supine hört. The middle adds an -s to each: present hörs (hör + s), past hördes (hörde + s), supine hörts (hört + s, used after har/hade). There is no everyday imperative — you don't command something to be audible — so that slot stays empty. Like all Swedish verbs the form is the same for every subject; in the "be audible" sense the subject is usually the dummy det (Det hörs…), and in the "be in touch" sense it is a plural vi/ni/de.
Det hörs musik från lägenheten ovanför.
There's music coming from the flat above. / Music can be heard… Det hörs = 'is audible', the middle voice.
Förklaringen hördes knappt över bruset.
The explanation could barely be heard over the noise. hördes = past — 'was audible / could be heard'.
Vi har inte hörts på flera månader.
We haven't been in touch for several months. har hörts = perfect of the reciprocal 'be in touch'.
Use 1: to be audible (Det hörs …)
The first job of höras is to report that a sound can be heard — that something is audible. English reaches for can be heard or there's a … sound; Swedish uses the middle hörs, very often with the dummy subject det.
Hörs jag bra nu?
Can you hear me okay now? Literally 'Am I heard well?' — the standard phone/video-call check.
Det hörs ett konstigt ljud från motorn.
There's a strange sound coming from the engine. Det hörs ett ljud — a noise is audible.
Musiken hördes ända ut på gatan.
The music could be heard all the way out on the street. hördes = past 'was audible'.
Use 2: Det hörs att … (you can tell / you can hear that …)
A very Swedish extension: Det hörs att … means "you can hear/tell that …" — using audibility as evidence for a conclusion (an accent, a mood, a lie). It is the auditory twin of Det syns att … ("you can see that …").
Det hörs att du är förkyld.
I can hear that you've got a cold. Det hörs att… — drawing a conclusion from how someone sounds.
Det hördes på rösten att hon var glad.
You could tell from her voice that she was happy. hördes på rösten att… — audible evidence in the past.
Use 3: to be in touch — and Vi hörs!
In its reciprocal sense, höras means people keep in touch with each other — by phone, message, or word. This powers one of the most common goodbyes in Swedish, Vi hörs!, which functions like English "talk soon" or "we'll be in touch." Here the subject is plural, exactly like a reciprocal verb.
Vi hörs!
Talk soon! / We'll be in touch! The everyday Swedish sign-off — present hörs with a plural subject.
Vi hörs i morgon, okej?
We'll talk tomorrow, okay? hörs as the keep-in-touch verb, near-future plan.
Vi hördes precis innan han åkte.
We spoke / were in touch just before he left. hördes = past of the reciprocal 'be in touch'.
höras: middle voice, not a true passive
It is tempting to file höras under the passive ("be heard"), but the better label is middle voice. A true passive foregrounds an agent you could name with av ("by"): Boken lästes av tusentals ("The book was read by thousands"). Det hörs musik, by contrast, names no hearer and implies none — it just reports that the sound is there to be heard. And Vi hörs! is openly reciprocal, not passive at all. So treat höras as a self-contained middle/deponent verb with its own meanings, and don't try to recover a hidden "by someone."
Det hörs inte ett ljud — alla sover.
Not a sound can be heard — everyone's asleep. Det hörs inte… = negated middle, 'isn't audible'.
Common Mistakes
❌ Det hör musik från grannen. (meaning 'music can be heard')
Incorrect — for 'is audible' you need the middle -s form: Det hörs musik.
✅ Det hörs musik från grannen.
There's music coming from the neighbour's.
❌ Vi ser! (as a goodbye meaning 'talk soon')
Off — 'talk soon' is Vi hörs! (be in touch by ear); Vi ses! is the separate goodbye 'see you'.
✅ Vi hörs!
Talk soon! / We'll be in touch!
❌ Det hörs musik av grannen.
Off — höras is middle, not passive; don't add an av-agent. Use från for the source: Det hörs musik från grannen.
✅ Det hörs musik från grannen.
There's music coming from the neighbour's.
❌ Vi har inte hört på länge. (reciprocal 'been in touch')
Incorrect — the keep-in-touch perfect keeps the -s: har hörts. (har hört is the active 'have heard'.)
✅ Vi har inte hörts på länge.
We haven't been in touch for a long time.
❌ Det hördes att du var arg, tolkat som 'it was heard'.
Misreading — Det hördes att… means 'you could tell/hear that…', not a literal passive 'was heard'.
✅ Det hördes att du var arg.
You could tell from your voice that you were angry.
Related Topics
- Deponent Verbs (s-verbs That Aren't Passive)B1 — A small but extremely common set of Swedish verbs that always end in -s yet mean something fully active: hoppas ('hope'), trivas ('feel at home'), lyckas ('succeed'), minnas ('remember'), andas ('breathe'), and — most importantly — finnas, the everyday verb for 'there is'. You never strip the -s, and you use one of these constantly without realising it forms a category.
- Reciprocal s-verbs (ses, träffas, slåss)B2 — A third job for the -s ending: 'each other'. With a plural subject, verbs like ses ('meet / see each other'), träffas ('meet'), kramas ('hug'), and slåss ('fight') express a mutual action — and the most common Swedish farewell of all, Vi ses!, is exactly this construction. Learn it once and you unlock a whole productive pattern.
- Reciprocal Pronouns (varandra)B1 — 'Each other / one another' is one tidy word in Swedish: varandra, with a genitive varandras ('each other's'). The crucial contrast English keeps but learners collapse: sig means 'themselves' (each acting on their own self) while varandra means 'each other' (acting mutually) — De älskar sig vs De älskar varandra are different statements. Swedish also has a second route to the same meaning: the reciprocal -s verbs like ses, träffas, slåss, kysstes.