laimennetaan

Laimennetaan is the present passive form of the Finnish verb laimentaa, meaning to dilute. It denotes the process of reducing a substance’s concentration or potency by adding a diluting agent, commonly water, but also other solvents. In practice, laimennetaan is used across science, medicine, food production, and everyday contexts to indicate that dilution is taking place without specifying who performs the action.

Grammatical note: The Finnish passive voice does not express the agent. Therefore laimennetaan can refer to a general process or a particular instance when the agent is unknown or irrelevant. It is typically used in instructional or descriptive sentences.

Examples: Liuos laimennetaan vedellä (The solution is diluted with water). Lääkevalmiste laimennetaan liuokseen ennen annostelua (The medicinal preparation is diluted into a solution before administration). Another everyday usage might describe a mixture prepared by someone without naming the actor.

In addition to its literal sense, laimennetaan can be used metaphorically to describe watering down or weakening arguments or statements, though more explicit forms such as laimentaa or laimentaminen may be preferred in formal language.

Related terms include laimennus (dilution) and laimentaminen (the act of diluting). The form laimennetaan is part of the broader Finnish system of passive constructions, which allows describing processes without specifying an agent. This makes it common in technical writing, manuals, and scientific reporting.