mahtuvat

Mahtuvat is the present tense, third-person plural form of the Finnish verb mahtua, which means "to fit" or "to be large enough to hold." The verb describes whether there is enough space for objects or people, or whether something can be accommodated in a given place. Mahtua is intransitive, and mahtuvat is used when the subject is plural or when the sense is about multiple items fitting into a space or container.

In practical use, mahtuvat is commonly paired with a destination or container in the illative or allative case to specify what is being fitted into what. For example: Nämä kirjat mahtuvat laatikkoon (These books fit into the box). Kahdeksan ihmistä mahtuu pöydälle (Eight people fit on the table). Saliin mahtuu sata henkeä (The hall can hold one hundred people).

Negative constructions use ei mahdu or eivät mahdu, depending on subject form. For instance: Tämä reppu ei mahdu autoon (This backpack does not fit in the car), Nämä kengät eivät mahdu laatikkoon (These shoes do not fit into the box). The form eivat mahdu is used with plural subjects; ei mahdu is used with singular subject.

Past tense and other forms exist as well, such as mahduin, mahduimme for first-person forms in past contexts, or mahtuisi for conditional. The core meaning remains the same: indicating whether capacity or space is sufficient in a given situation. Mahtuvat is thus a common, practical term in everyday Finnish for discussing fit, capacity, and spatial arrangements.