istutavad

Istutavad is Estonian and serves as the third-person plural present indicative form of the verb istutama, meaning to plant or to set in the ground. The infinitive of the verb is istutada. The form istutavad is used for actions performed by multiple subjects in the present time, typically in a transitive construction that takes a direct object such as plants, trees, or flowers.

Morphology and usage notes: Istutuvad is an active-voice, present-tense form indicating ongoing or habitual planting. The verb is transitive and commonly pairs with nouns in the accusative to specify what is being planted, for example, nad istutavad puid (they plant trees) or nad istutavad lilli (they plant flowers). The subject of the sentence may be explicit or omitted if understood from context. Negative statements use the appropriate negative construction, such as nad ei istuta, although istutavad itself denotes the affirmative present action.

Contexts and applications: Istutavad is frequently used in agriculture, horticulture, landscaping, forestry, and gardening to describe planting activities, including sowing seedlings, transplanting young plants, or establishing new vegetation in a given area. It can appear in instructional texts, news reports about farming, and everyday conversation about garden work or soil preparation.

Etymology and related forms: The verb istutada is a native Estonian verb with cognates in other Finnic languages. Istutavad is part of a regular conjugation pattern for present-tense, third-person plural forms. Related forms include the first-person plural istutame (we plant) and the singular forms such as istutan (I plant) and istutad (you plant). See also Estonian verbs and plant-related terminology for broader context.