Syötyä

Syötyä is a Finnish grammatical form derived from the verb syödä (to eat). It is the partitive singular form of the past passive participle syöty, and it is used to describe something that has already been eaten or to refer to an indefinite amount of consumed food. In Finnish, participles can function as adjectives or as noun modifiers, and the partitive case is used when the quantity is not specified or is only partly consumed. Accordingly, syötyä typically appears in noun phrases such as syötyä leipää (bread that has been eaten), syötyä ruokaa (food that has been eaten), or syötyä marjaa (berries that have been eaten).

Grammatically, syötyä is a combination of the participle base syöty with the partitive suffix -ä. The form is not a standalone verb; rather, it is a non-finite form used within noun phrases or relative clauses to indicate a resultative state. The related forms include syöty (the past participle used as an adjective), syödyn (genitive form of the participle), and other case endings depending on the noun.

Usage notes: The partitive form is common when the speaker refers to a non-countable or indefinite amount of something that has been consumed, or when the exact amount is not important. Syötyä is thus a typical tool in Finnish for expressing “eaten …” in phrases describing food or other items that have already undergone the action of eating.