Istua

Istua is a Finnish verb meaning "to sit." It denotes taking or maintaining a seated position and is used for both people and animals. As an intransitive verb, istua describes a state or action rather than causing it. It appears in common expressions such as istua pöydän ääressä (to sit at the table) or istua alas (to sit down).

Conjugation in the present tense is: minä istun, sinä istut, hän istuu, me istumme, te istutte, he istuvat. The imperfect (past) tense is: minä istuin, sinä istuit, hän istui, me istuimme, te istuitte, he istuivat. The perfect tense is formed with the auxiliary olla and the past participle: olen istunut, olet istunut, on istunut, olemme istuneet, olette istuneet, he ovat istuneet. Finnish verbs do not require a separate passive here, so istua follows the standard patterns for -ua verbs in present, past, and perfect forms.

Usage notes: istua can describe both the act of sitting and remaining in a seated position, and it often appears with spatial or temporal modifiers, such as istua paikallaan (to sit still) or istua pitkään (to sit for a long time). It also combines with directional or adverbial phrases to express nuance, e.g., istua hiljaa (to sit quietly) or istua kahvilassa with a location.

Imperative forms are istu (singular) and istukaa (plural). For example, Istu tähän means "Sit here," and Istukaa tähän means "Sit here (plural)."

Overall, istua is a basic, widely used Finnish verb essential for describing seating and related actions in everyday language.