Pyyhkiytyvät

Pyyhkiytyvät is the present passive plural form of the Finnish verb pyyhkiä, which means to wipe, wipe away, or erase. As a present passive, the form indicates that the subject is being wiped or erased by an agent, but the actor is not specified. It is used in both concrete and abstract contexts, including cleaning surfaces, erasing marks, and fading or removing information or traits over time.

In everyday usage, pyyhkiytyvät commonly describes things that are removed or worn away, often with no explicit agent. Examples include physical cleaning, such as “Jäljet pyyhkiytyvät pois lattialta” (The traces are wiped away from the floor), as well as data erasure, for instance “Tiedot pyyhkiytyvät järjestelmässä” (The data are erased in the system). The form can also be used metaphorically, for example to indicate that memories or records vanish gradually.

Form notes and related forms: the corresponding singular present passive form is pyyhkiytyy (he/she/it is wiped). The active equivalent is pyyhkii (he/she/it wipes). In Finnish, passive constructions are often used when the agent is unknown or irrelevant, focusing on the result of the action rather than who performs it.

Overall, pyyhkiytyvät is a common Finnish grammatical form used to describe the automatic or agentless process of wiping away or erasing in real-world and figurative senses.