Syönyt

Syönyt is the past active participle of the Finnish verb syödä, meaning to eat. It is used mainly to form perfect tenses with the auxiliary olla (to have) and to indicate a completed action related to the present or a reference time. The participle itself does not encode person or number; the auxiliary verb conveys those grammatical categories.

Typical usage

- Singular: Olen syönyt. (I have eaten.)

- Singular with third person: Hän on syönyt. (He/She has eaten.)

- Plural: Olemme syöneet. (We have eaten.)

- Plural with second person: Olette syöneet. (You have eaten.)

- Plural third person: He ovat syöneet. (They have eaten.)

In addition to forming perfect tenses, syönyt can function as a predicative or attributive adjective in some contexts, though its primary role is in periphrastic constructions with olla.

Syöty as passive form

There is a related form, syöty, which is the passive past participle of syödä. It is used in passive constructions to indicate that the action of eating has been performed by an unspecified agent. For example: Ruoka on syöty. (The food has been eaten.)

Etymology and construction

Syönyt is derived from the verb syödä with the common Finnish past active participle suffix -nyt. The form syöty comes from a parallel passive participle pattern with the suffix -ty. These participles participate in Finnish’s large system of non-finite verb forms and are used in combination with auxiliary verbs to express aspect and voice.

See also

Syödä, Finnish grammar, Finnish participles.