Syytettiin

Syytettiin is a Finnish verb form meaning "was accused" or "were accused." It is the past passive form of the transitive verb syyttää, which means "to accuse." In Finnish, the passive voice is commonly used to report actions when the actor is unknown or not specified, a frequent feature in legal, media, and formal writing. Syytettiin does not indicate the subject’s person or number; the subject is either omitted or stated elsewhere in the sentence.

Grammar notes: The active past forms are syytti (“he/she accused”) and syyttivät (“they accused”). The past passive form syytettiin corresponds to the English "was/were accused." The noun form syytetty means "the accused" or "the defendant," used to refer to a person charged with a crime. Related vocabulary includes syyte, which denotes a charge or indictment, and syyttää, the base verb “to accuse.”

Usage examples:

- Hänet syytettiin kavalluksesta. (He was accused of embezzlement.)

- Syyte liittyi epäiltyyn rikokseen. (The charge related to the alleged crime.)

Etymology: The verb comes from syyttää, itself built on the stem syy- (blame, fault) with the causative/causative-like suffix -ttää. The form syytettiin reflects Finnish’s passive past morphology and is widely used in written Finnish to report allegations without naming the accuser.