Syljetaan

Syljetaan is a Finnish verb form that functions as the present passive or impersonal construction of the verb sylkeä, meaning to spit. In Finnish, passive forms are used to describe actions where the agent is unknown or not specified, or to present general statements. Syljetään thus translates to “it is spat” or more naturally “one spits” or “people spit,” depending on context.

In everyday and written Finnish, syljetään is used to describe spitting as a general or habitual action, rather than attributing it to a particular subject. The form is common in descriptive, explanatory, or instructional contexts where the speaker wishes to emphasize the action itself without naming who performs it. It can appear in ethnographic notes, behavior descriptions, or neutral observations about customs or situations. Because passive constructions often generalize the action, syljetään can convey a routine or normative statement about spitting in a given setting.

Morphology and related forms: Syljetään is derived from sylkeä by adding the present passive suffix in Finnish, producing a form that is compatible with other verbs in the same class. The related active form is syljetä (to spit, in the active sense), and sylki is the common noun for saliva. Finnish also allows other passive or impersonal variants with different endings to reflect tense or mood, while the core meaning tied to spitting remains constant.

See also: sylkeä, syljetä, sylki.