Lisätä

Lisätä is a Finnish verb meaning to add or to increase. It is transitive and commonly used when something is being added to another thing, such as ingredients, items on a list, or quantities. The term covers everyday actions like cooking or shopping as well as mathematical addition. For example, in cooking you might say “Lisää suolaa ruokaan” (Add salt to the food), and in arithmetic you may hear “Lisää kolme ja viisi” (Add three and five).

Grammatical notes help with usage. The infinitive is lisätä. Present tense forms include minä lisään, sinä lisäät, hän lisää, me lisäämme, te lisäätte, he lisäävät. Past tense forms include lisäsin, lisäsi, lisäsi, lisäsimme, lisäitte, lisäsivät. The passive is lisättiin (was added). The imperative form is lisää (add!), with an opposite form älä lisää (do not add). Past and perfect participles appear as lisännyt (having added) and lisättynä (having been added). Finnish also allows nouns such as lisä (an addition, supplement) and lisäys (an addition, increase) related to the verb.

Usage and nuances. Lisätä is used for concrete additions (adding ingredients, items to a list) as well as abstract increases (adding time, resources). It appears in mathematical or computational contexts to denote performing addition. The term can carry both neutral and practical connotations, depending on the context, and contrasts with synonyms like kasvattaa (to increase in size) when describing growth rather than an explicit addition of one thing to another.

Etymology and related forms. Lisätä derives from lisä, meaning an addition or supplement, with related nouns such as lisäys and lisäarvo (value added). These forms share the core idea of introducing something more to an existing whole.