verksamhet

Swedish

Etymology

From verksam (“busy, active”) +‎ -het (“-ness”). Compare English busy vs. business.

Pronunciation

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Noun

verksamhet c

1. goal-oriented activity (either commercial or more general goal-oriented activity, carried out on an ongoing basis, often within an organization or group)

   Teaterns verksamhet omfattar också turnéer

   The activities of the theater also includes tours

   vara tillbaka i verksamhet

   be back in business

   1. operations, business, etc.

      offentlig verksamhet

      public sector operations

      (Often rephrased with "public sector" or the like in translations.)

2. an entity engaging in such goal-oriented activity; an enterprise (in the most general sense)

   Företag och teatrar är verksamheter

   Businesses and theaters are enterprises

   verksamhetens verksamhet

   the activities of the enterprise [artificial]

   1. a business, an institution, etc.

Usage notes

• Verksamhet is a neutral word, often used in legal texts and social sciences to denote any kind of private or public institution or enterprise.
• While Swedish verksam (“worksome”) (one who works; i.e. busy, but also effective) doubtlessly has the same roots as German wirksam (“effective”), their meanings do not fully overlap. And Swedish verksamhet (“activity”) has taken on quite a different meaning than German Wirksamkeit (“effectiveness”). Swedish verksamhet corresponds better to German Tätigkeit (“activity”).

Declension

Declension of verksamhet

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	verksamhet	verksamhets
	definite	verksamheten	verksamhetens
plural	indefinite	verksamheter	verksamheters
	definite	verksamheterna	verksamheternas

Derived terms

• verksamhetsberättelse
• verksamhetsform
• verksamhetsplanering
• verksamhetsstyrning
• verksamhetsutveckling

References

• “verksamhet”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “verksamhet”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)