Learn Swedish: När hittades ruinen i skogen? - When was the ruin found in the forest?

It comes from the Group 1 verb hitta (to find). To make the s-passive in the simple past tense, you take the regular active past tense form hittade (found) and simply add an -s to the end. This gives you hittades (was found).

Can I say När blev ruinen hittad instead?

Yes, absolutely! Swedish has two main ways to express the passive voice. You can use the s-passive (hittades) or the bli-passive (blev hittad). Both are grammatically correct and mean "was found." The s-passive is very common in news, historical facts, and general written text, while the bli-passive is often used in spoken Swedish to emphasize the event itself.

Why does the verb hittades come right after När instead of after the subject?

This is a great reminder of the V2 (verb-second) rule. In a question starting with a question word like När (When), that word occupies the first position. Because the verb must come second, the passive verb hittades has to jump in front of the subject ruinen.

Who is the subject of this sentence?