Vaatavad

Vaatavad is the third-person plural present tense form of the Estonian verb vaatama, which means “to look” or “to watch.” It is used with plural subjects, such as nad (they) or inimesed, to express an ongoing action in the present. In standard Estonian, vaatama belongs to the -ama class of verbs, and vaatavad follows the regular present tense pattern for 3rd person plural.

In usage, vaatavad typically appears with a direct object in the accusative or partitive case, depending on context. Examples include Nad vaatavad filme (They are watching movies) or Nad vaatavad televisiooni (They are watching television). The form also serves as a common building block in longer verb phrases and clauses describing ongoing observation or viewing activities.

Morphologically, vaatavad is formed from the verb stem vaata- combined with the 3rd person plural present ending. Estonian verbs in present tense show subject agreement through these endings, so the same verb form changes to vaatab (he/she watches) for singular subjects, while vaatavad marks the plural.

Notes and related forms: The infinitive is vaatama, and the past tense is vaatavad in a different tense (e.g., vaatasid for “they watched”). Vaatavad is not a noun or proper noun; it remains strictly a verb form. Estonian, a Finnic language spoken mainly in Estonia, relies on similar person-number agreement across verbs, making vaatavad a standard example of present-tense agreement in everyday speech and writing.