Töötlevad

Töötlevad is the third-person plural present indicative form of the Estonian verb töötlema, meaning “they process.” The infinitive is töötlema, and the present tense form for third-person plural is built from the stem töötle- with the ending -vad. The term can also appear as part of an adjective form, töötlev, meaning “processing” or “manufacturing,” used in noun phrases such as tööstus meaning industry.

Usage and meaning

Töötlevad denotes ongoing processing or handling performed by a subject—often referring to processing of data, materials, or information. It is a transitive verb and typically takes a direct object in the partitive case when the action is in progress. For example: Nad töötlevad andmeid (They process data). The form is common in business, information technology, and manufacturing contexts, where the concept of processing or transforming inputs is central.

Related forms and phrases

The base verb töötlema is the key form; other person and number forms include töötleb (he/she processes) and töötleme (we process). The participial adjective töötlev is used to describe something involved in processing, as in tööstus, the industry, with the compound phrase tööstus meaning industry; the phrase töödlev tööstus is a stylistic variant used to emphasize processing/manufacturing.

Notes

Töötlevad appears in neutral, informative writing and is characteristic of technical or formal Estonian. It is closely related to the noun form töötlemine (processing) and the adjective töötlev, which underpins the common term tööstus, especially in the expression tööstus ja töötlev tööstus (manufacturing/processing industry).