Hävitavad

Hävitavad is a Finnish verb form that is sometimes encountered as a nonstandard or dialectal variant of the standard present tense form hävittävät, which means “they destroy.” The standard spelling in Finnish is hävittävät; hävitavat appears mainly as a simplified or misspelled form in informal writing, transcription errors, or learners’ texts.

In terms of grammar, the form is related to the verb hävittää, meaning to destroy or to erase. The difference between hävittävät and hävitavat lies in orthography and, in standard Finnish, in consonant doubling that occurs in the present plural form of hävittää. Some writers or learners may produce hävitavat by omitting the consonant doubling, reflecting a nonstandard pronunciation or attempt to model the suffix without the general rule of stem alternation.

Usage notes and reception: Hävitavat is not regarded as correct in formal Finnish. For clear communication and authoritative writing, hävittävät should be used. In some informal contexts or dialectal speech, speakers might produce variants that resemble hävitavat, but contemporary Finnish orthography typically treats these as mistakes rather than accepted alternatives.

Examples:

- Standard: Ne hävittävät kaupungin vanhat rakennukset.

- Nonstandard (less accepted): Ne hävitavat kaupungin vanhat rakennukset.

See also: Hävittää, Hävittäminen, Finnish verb conjugation, Finnish orthography.