Pesevät

Pesevät is the present tense, third-person plural form of the Finnish verb pestä, meaning “to wash.” It is used when the subject is plural and the action is happening in the present or is habitual, as in “He pesevät astiat” (They wash the dishes).

Morphology and conjugation: Pesevät is built from the stem pes- plus the personal ending -vät, in accordance with Finnish vowel harmony. The corresponding forms in the present indicative include pesen (I wash), peset (you wash), pesee (he/she washes), pesemme (we wash), and pesette (you all wash), with pesevät completing the paradigm for they wash. The infinitive of the verb is pestä, and the past tense form for they washed is pesivät.

Usage notes: Pesevät appears in everyday Finnish to describe multiple subjects performing washing actions. It commonly takes direct objects such as astiat (dishes), pyykit (laundry/clothes), or ikkunat (windows). Word order tends to be subject–verb–object, as in “He pesevät pyykit.”

Etymology and related forms: The verb pestä originates from Proto-Finnic roots meaning “to wash.” Pesevät shares its root with other forms of pestä; the present plural ending -vät reflects Finnish verb conjugation rules and vowel harmony. The form is distinct from the third-person singular pesee, which refers to a single subject performing the action.

In summary, pesevät is a standard, widely used Finnish verb form indicating that a group is washing something in the present tense.