kulutasid

Kulutasid is the third-person plural past tense form of the Estonian verb kulutama, meaning to spend or expend resources such as time, money, or effort. As a finite verb form, kulutasid is used with a plural subject (for example, nad kulutasid). The corresponding forms for other persons include kulutasin (I spent) and kulutasite (you spent, plural). The word is commonly used with objects expressed in the partitive case when referring to time or quantity, such as kulutasid palju aega or kulutasid raha.

Usage and nuance: kulutama can be used in neutral, factual statements or in contexts that emphasize waste or inefficiency, depending on the surrounding wording. While kulutasid itself does not imply judgment, the broader context may. The negative nuance is often conveyed with phrases like ära kulutada aega, meaning to waste time, whereas neutral or positive contexts use it simply to indicate expenditure.

Common collocations and examples: Kulutasid palju aega on sageli used to indicate significant time investment on a task. Another frequent construction is kulutasid raha, for example, kulutasid raha uue auto ostmiseks, meaning they spent money to buy a new car. Such phrases illustrate how kulutama governs the kind of resource being expended and how the object nouns appear in the sentence.

In summary, kulutasid is a key past-tense form in Estonian for describing spending or expending resources by a plural subject, with usage ranging from neutral reporting to expressions that carry evaluative nuance depending on context.