Selitti

Selitti is a Finnish verb form meaning “explained” in English. It is the third-person singular past tense of the verb selittää, which means to explain. The form is used in narrative and reported speech to indicate that someone explained something in the past. The related noun selitys means “explanation.” Selittää is a transitive verb and commonly takes a direct object, such as an event, reason, or situation.

Conjugation

Present: minä selitän; sinä selität; hän selittää; me selitämme; te selitätte; he selittävät.

Past: minä selitin; sinä selitit; hän selitti; me selitimme; te selititte; he selittivät.

Usage

Selitti appears in both written and spoken Finnish to convey a completed act of explanation. It is often used in descriptive passages, dialogues, and news reports where someone explains a matter. The word typically combines with a direct object or clause, for example selittää asian, selittää miksi, or selittää mitä tapahtui. In past-tense narration, selitti helps establish what a subject explained earlier in the text.

Example

Hän selitti tilanteen rauhallisesti.

Notes

Selittää forms the core of related expressions such as selitys (explanation) and selittäminen (explaining). The past tense selitti specifically denotes a completed explanation by a singular third-person subject.