Katten hittades levande.

the cat

Breakdown of Katten hittades levande.

• hitta: to find
• levande: alive; living

Questions & Answers about Katten hittades levande.

Why is it katten and not katt?

Katten is the definite singular form of katt, so it means the cat.

In Swedish, the definite article is usually added as an ending:

• en katt = a cat
• katten = the cat

So Katten hittades levande means The cat was found alive, not just Cat was found alive.

What does hittades mean?

Hittades means was found.

It comes from the verb hitta = to find.
Here it is in the past tense passive:

• hitta = to find
• hittade = found
• hittades = was found

So the sentence is built around the idea that something happened to the cat: the cat was found.

How is the passive formed in hittades?

Swedish often forms the passive by adding -s to the verb.

Here, the past tense active form is hittade = found.
Add -s, and you get hittades = was found.

Compare:

• De hittade katten. = They found the cat.
• Katten hittades. = The cat was found.

This -s passive is very common in Swedish and is often more natural than using a separate word like was.