Jäädytä

Jäädytä is a Finnish verb form that functions as the second‑person singular imperative of the verb jäädyttää, meaning “to freeze” or “to cause to freeze.” The root of the word, jää, refers to ice or freezing, while the suffix ‑dyttää conveys the causative sense. The imperative is used to give a direct command or instruction, typically addressing a single person or a group in a familiar context.

In culinary contexts, jäädytä appears in recipes and food preservation instructions. It directs the reader to subject a food item to a freezing process, as in “Jäädytä marjat” (freeze the berries) or “Jäädytä riisi” (freeze the rice). The command can also apply to laboratory or industrial processes, where it instructs technicians to lower temperatures to induce solidification of liquids or to preserve samples. In everyday Finnish, the phrase is common in households that use freezers for storage.

Outside of food and science, jäädytä can appear in figurative language. Writers sometimes use the word to describe the act of “freezing” a moment or memory, as in “Jäädytä muisto” (freeze the memory). In technology, the term has been adopted in software development to describe freezing software versions, for instance “Jäädytä koodi” (freeze the code).

The imperative form is regular in Finnish conjugation. The base verb, jäädyttää, follows the standard pattern for verbs ending in –tä: the imperative is formed by dropping the infinitive ending and adding –tä. Thus, the imperative distinctions are clear and widely understood among Finnish speakers.