Hyökätään

Hyökätään is the present passive form of the Finnish verb hyökätä, meaning to attack. In Finnish, the passive voice is used to describe actions without specifying the agent, so hyökätään can convey that an attack is taking place or has taken place without naming who is performing it. The form is commonly found in news reports, historical narratives, and descriptive texts where the focus is on the event rather than the aggressor.

Grammatically, hyökätään is the present tense passive form and is part of a broader passive paradigm that includes other tenses such as hyökättiin (past passive) and on hyökätty (present perfect passive). The agent, if needed, can be indicated by a phrase such as “joku hyökkää” (someone attacks) or by a prepositional phrase like “hyökkäyksen kohteena” (target of the attack). The noun form for the action is hyökkäys (attack), while hyökätä is the verb.

Usage examples illustrate its neutral, agentless tone. For instance, "Kaupunkiin hyökätään useista suunnista" describes attacks on the city from several directions in a general way. Another example: "Kaupunki on hyökätty useaan otteeseen viime yönä," which uses the past passive to report that the city has been attacked repeatedly. In sports contexts, hyökätään can also appear to denote an offensive move in a general sense, though more common active forms are used for explicit subjects.

See also: hyökätä, hyökkäys, Finnish passive voice.