keventä

Keventää is a Finnish verb that means to make something lighter, to ease, relieve, or reduce. It is used both for physical lightening, such as reducing weight or burden, and for figurative relief, such as easing stress, tension, or bureaucratic load. The verb can describe actions that decrease the severity or intensity of a situation as well as the amount of something that weighs on someone.

Common usages include keventää taakkaa or keventää kuormaa (to lighten a burden or workload), keventää kipua or keventää kärsimystä (to relieve pain or suffering), and keventää mieltä or keventää tunnelmaa (to lighten one’s mood or the atmosphere). The subject of the sentence can be the thing that becomes lighter (the burden lightens) or the actor that makes something lighter (they lighten the burden). For example, taakka kevenee (the burden lightens), lääkkeet kevensivät kipua (the medicines reduced the pain).

Keventää is a regular Finnish verb of the -ä group, and it forms standard conjugation endings like other -ä verbs. Its related noun forms include kevennys (the act of lightening) and keveys or keveys- related terms describing lightness.

Etymology and related terms: keventää derives from keveys or kevyys, meaning lightness. Related concepts include kevennys (easing or lightening) and synonyms such as lieventää and helpottaa, which express similar ideas in slightly different nuances.

See also: kevennys, keveys, lieventää, helpottaa.