kasvoivat

Kasvoivat is the past tense form of the Finnish verb kasvaa, meaning to grow or to increase. It is the imperfect indicative form used with plural subjects, indicating that growth or increase occurred in the past.

Morphologically, kasvoivat represents the third-person plural past tense of kasvaa. The present tense counterpart is kasvavat, used when referring to growth happening now. Kasvoivat is typically used to describe increases in numbers, values, or other measurable quantities, as well as physical growth of living things, when the subject is plural and the action is completed in the past.

In usage, kasvoivat can refer to various domains, such as economic indicators, population figures, or growth in size. It describes the change over a past period rather than ongoing or hypothetical growth. It is not used with singular subjects; for a single subject, the form kasvoi is used (e.g., "väestö kasvoi" – the population grew).

Examples:

- Myyntiluvut kasvoivat viime vuonna. (Sales increased last year.)

- Hinnat kasvoivat nopeasti useimpien tuotteiden osalta. (Prices increased quickly for most products.)

- Kustannukset kasvoivat tänä vuonna. (Costs rose this year.)

Kasvoivat is thus a key form for reporting past growth or increases in plural contexts, distinct from its singular or present-tense equivalents.