löytyivät

Löytyivät is the Finnish verb form meaning "they were found" or "they were located." It is the past tense plural form of the verb löytyä, which means "to be found" or "to be located." The form is used when the subject of the sentence is plural and the action occurred in the past.

Löytyivät is commonly used in reports of discoveries or locations, such as archaeology, investigations, inventories, or news accounts. It signals that multiple items or entities were found or located during a search or examination.

Grammatical notes: Finnish verbs agree with their subject, so löytyivät corresponds to a plural subject in the past tense. The singular past form is löysi. The word also has related forms, such as löytynyt (past participle) used in perfect tenses, for example asiakirjat ovat löytyneet ("the documents have been found"). The infinitive or present forms can appear in different constructions, but löytyivät specifically marks past tense with a plural subject.

Examples:

- Esineet löytyivät kaivauksista. (The objects were found in the excavations.)

- Kadonneet avaimet löytyivät kellarista. (The missing keys were found in the basement.)

- Uutisissa kerrottiin, että todisteet löytyivät tutkimuksen aikana. (In the news, it was reported that the evidence was found during the investigation.)

Etymology and related terms: löytyä derives from the Finnish verb family surrounding "find" concepts, with löyätyä being the past participle form in related tenses. Related verbs include löytää (to find) and löytäminen (the act of finding).