Lykkääntyvät

Lykkääntyvät is a Finnish finite verb form used in the passive voice to indicate that some events, plans, or decisions are being postponed. It corresponds to the present tense and third-person plural, so it typically describes multiple subjects without specifying who is performing the postponement.

The form is derived from the verb lykätä, meaning to postpone or delay. In Finnish, the passive mood often concentrates on the outcome rather than the agent, so lykkääntyvät emphasizes the postponement itself. It is commonly found in formal or administrative language, such as planning documents, news reports, and official statements, but can also appear in more general writing.

Usage notes include that lykkääntyvät is typically used with plural subjects like kokoukset (meetings), päätökset (decisions), or hankkeet (projects). It can be contrasted with siirtää or siirtyä, which are broader terms for moving an event to a later time; lykkääntyvät specifically communicates that postponement has occurred or is occurring. The tense and mood allow the sentence to remain agent-agnostic, focusing on the status of postponement rather than on who caused it.

Examples:

- Kokoukset lykkääntyvät ensi kuukaudelle.

- Päätökset lykkääntyvät, kunnes lisätietoja saadaan.

Related linguistic notes include that a noun form such as lykkääntyminen can refer to the postponement itself, while the infinitive lykätä serves as the base verb. Lykkääntyvät thus functions as a standard, neutral description of deferment within Finnish discourse.