Voivat

Voivat is the third-person plural present tense form of the Finnish verb voida, meaning “to be able to.” As a modal auxiliary, voida is used to express ability, possibility, or permission and is followed by another verb in the infinitive to form a clause. For example, “he voivat tulla” means “they can come,” and “ne voivat auttaa” means “they may/help (they can) assist.”

In present tense, the full Finnish conjugation of voida is: minä voin, sinä voit, hän voi, me voimme, te voitte, he voivat. The negative form in the present is “ei voi” for the singular and “eivät voi” for the plural. The question form uses the question particle and inversion, as in “Voivatko he tulla?” (Could/Can they come?)

Voida is a modal verb and its use contrasts with other Finnish modals in nuance and syntax. It combines with another verb to indicate capability or possibility rather than stating a fact about the subject alone. The past and perfect tenses are formed with the auxiliary olla and the past participle voinut, as in “Olen voinut” (I have been able to) or “Olemme voineet” (we have been able to). The simple past deteriorates into other expressions like pystyi/pystyivät in contexts describing past ability.

Common contexts include planning (“Voimme tavata huomenna” or “Voimme tehdä sen huomenna”), permission (“Voit lähteä nyt” would be singular; plural uses ovat), and hypothetical possibility in conditional or future-oriented discourse. Voivat is therefore a core element of everyday Finnish for expressing what subjects are able to do.