Ylittää

Ylittää is a Finnish verb meaning to cross over or to go beyond. It covers both physical crossing—such as crossing a street, a bridge, or a border—and figurative crossing, such as surpassing a limit, a target, or expectations. In physical usage the object of ylittää is typically a barrier or obstacle; in figurative use the object is a boundary or standard.

Grammatical notes: Ylittää is a transitive verb. The thing being crossed or exceeded is usually expressed in the genitive case (for example, ylittää sillan, ylittää rajan). In indefinite contexts the object may be in the partitive. The verb forms according to tense and mood include present (ylittää), past (ylitti), and others formed with standard Finnish verb conjugation.

Common usage and nuances: In everyday speech ylittää tends to emphasize the action of movement across a physical barrier or the act of exceeding a threshold in performance, price, or quantity. It is common in journalism, analysis, and everyday conversation when describing progress, competition, or policy limits. The sense of surpassing can carry either neutral or evaluative connotations depending on context.

Related terms and contrasts: Ylittää is related to yli- (the over/overcome prefix) and to other verbs such as ohittaa (to pass by, to bypass) and läpäistä (to penetrate, to pass through). Usage may vary by nuance; for strict crossing, ylittää is preferred, while ohittaa can emphasize bypassing rather than crossing.