Sijoittuivat

Sijoittuivat is the third-person plural imperfect tense form of the Finnish verb sijoittua, meaning that “they were located” or “they took place in” and are used to describe the location or spatial arrangement of multiple subjects. The verb is intransitive, so it does not take a direct object; the location is conveyed with adverbial or noun phrases such as kaupungin keskustaan, joen varrelle, tai alueelle.

Use and meaning

Sijoittua is commonly used in geographic, urban planning, historical, and descriptive texts to report where something is or was situated. It can refer to towns, districts, buildings, facilities, natural features, or events. The construction with -ivat/-ivät indicates a past, plural subject, for example when describing several sites or elements that were located in a region or relative to landmarks. The nuance is descriptive rather than action-driven: it states the position rather than a deliberate placing activity.

Examples

Esimerkiksi: "Nähtävyydet sijoittuivat kaupungin keskustan länsipuolelle." "Uudet asuinalueet sijoittuivat kaupungin kaakkoisosaan." "Kongressin tilat sijoittuivat messukeskuksen läheisyyteen." Sijoittuivat voi also appear in broader historical accounts: "Rakennukset sijoittuivat suurehkon incidentin jälkeen alueen eri osiin."

Related terms

Sijoittuminen describes the process of being situated or the act of locating, while sijoittaa is the transitive verb meaning “to place.” Sijoittuivat as a form is most common in factual prose, geography, and historical narrative to convey the location of multiple elements in the past.