Liimataan

Liimataan is a Finnish verb form that functions as the present passive of liimata, meaning to glue or to paste. It denotes that the act of gluing is performed on the subject by an unspecified agent. The form is common in instructional, technical, and descriptive texts where the doer of the action is unknown or not important. In Finnish, the passive is typically impersonal, allowing statements to refer to a step in a procedure without naming who carries it out. The past passive form is liimattiin and the corresponding future or context-dependent future sense is conveyed through time markers or auxiliary expressions.

Use and meaning: Liimataan appears in manuals, guides, and product descriptions to describe a given step in a process. For example, “Kansi liimataan kiinnikkeeseen” means that the lid is glued to the fastener. The phrase can describe both manual and machine-aided gluing, with the explicit actor left unspecified. Because it is passive, liimataan emphasizes the action and the result rather than who performs it.

Relation to liima and liimata: The verb derives from liima, glue, and the verb liimata, to glue. The passive form liimataan is part of a broader system of Finnish passive conjugation, where the agent is often omitted in technical or procedural writing.

Notes: Liimataan is most widely used in formal, technical, and instructional language. In everyday spoken Finnish, speakers might rephrase to specify the actor or use active voice if the agent is relevant to the context.