kirkastuvat

Kirkastuvat is a Finnish verb form meaning to become brighter or clearer, and it is used to describe increasing brightness or visibility of light, sky, or objects. In ordinary use it can refer to weather conditions, astronomical bodies, or figurative clarity. The form kirkastuvat corresponds to the third-person plural present tense of the intransitive verb kirkastua, which comes from kirkas meaning bright.

The word belongs to a family of verbs built from the adjective kirkas (bright) with the suffix -ttua, which yields verbs that describe a change of state toward brightness or clarity. Because kirkastua is intransitive, kirkastuvat generally describes the subject itself becoming brighter or more noticeable rather than acting on a direct object.

Kirkastuvat appears in contexts such as weather reporting, scientific writing, and nature descriptions, where changes in light conditions are discussed. It can describe the sky clearing after clouds, a landscape brightening as daylight strengthens, or stars becoming more visible as atmospheric conditions improve. The term can also be used metaphorically to indicate ideas becoming clearer or situations gaining clarity.

Examples are typically found in longer sentences that specify the subject undergoing the change, for instance describing atmospheric or environmental transitions. While not as common as the singular form kirkastuu, the plural form kirkastuvat is correct for plural subjects and aligns with Finnish verb conjugation rules for third-person plural present tense.

See also: kirkastua, kirkkaus, kirkas.