Hidastetaan

Hidastetaan is a Finnish verb form that represents the present passive of the verb hidastaa, meaning to slow down, retard, or delay. It expresses that something is being slowed down, without specifying who or what performs the action. The present passive is used when the focus is on the process of slowing rather than on the agent.

The form is created with the suffix -etaan attached to the verb stem, yielding hidastetaan. In Finnish, the passive does not indicate the actor, so the subject is typically indefinite, as in generic statements or descriptions of processes. The form is common in technical, scientific, and everyday language when describing changes in speed or rate.

Usage examples illustrate its function. For instance: Liikennettä hidastetaan rakennustöiden vuoksi, meaning “Traffic is slowed down due to roadworks.” Another example: Koneen nopeutta hidastetaan varotoimien vuoksi, meaning “The machine’s speed is slowed down for safety measures.” The construction can describe mechanical slowing, procedural delays, or natural deceleration in various contexts.

Related nominal and adjectival forms include hidastaminen, the noun meaning “the slowing down” or “delay,” and hidastuva, the present participle meaning “slowing down.” An antonym in common use is kiihdyttää, meaning “to accelerate.” The term is widely understood in Finnish-language texts dealing with movement, process control, and time-critical operations.