Lentelevät

Lentelevät is a Finnish verb form meaning "they fly" or "they are flying." It is the third-person plural present indicative form of the verb lentää, which means to fly. The form is used when the subject performing the action is plural, such as birds, insects, or aircraft.

Morphology and formation: Finnish verbs inflect for person and number in the present tense. The third-person plural present typically ends with -vat or -vät, depending on vowel harmony and the preceding phonology. Lentelevät exemplifies this pattern, combining the verb stem associated with lentää with the plural suffix to express that multiple subjects are in flight.

Usage and examples: Lentelevät is used with plural subjects. Examples include: Linnut lentelevät taivaalla. (The birds are flying in the sky.) Perhoset lentelevät kukkien yllä. (The butterflies are fluttering above the flowers.) Koneet lentelevät kaupungin yllä. (The airplanes are flying over the city.)

Relation to other forms: The base verb lentää appears in other tenses and forms, such as lentää (infinitive), lentää (3rd person singular present: lentää), or the present active participle lentelevä, which describes something that is currently flying. The word lentelevät itself is strictly a finite verb form used for a plural subject in the present tense.

Etymology: Lentää is derived from Finnish roots connected to flight and movement, with lento meaning "flight." Lentelevät is a standard inflected form of this verb rather than a separate lexical item. See also lentää, lento, and lentelevä for related forms.