murrettiin

Murrettiin is a Finnish verb form used to express that an action was muttered or spoken softly in the past, with the agent left unnamed. It is formed by taking the verb stem murre- and attaching the past passive ending -ttiin. In Finnish grammar, the suffix -ttiin marks passive voice in the past tense, yielding an impersonal construction equivalent to “the words were muttered” without specifying who did the muttering.

Because murrettiin is often discussed as an illustrative example in grammar descriptions rather than a common everyday verb, it is treated as a demonstration of the passive past rather than a frequently used lexical item. The form is compatible with many stems, following standard Finnish phonology and spelling rules, including the characteristic double i in the ending that signals the past passive.

Usage of murrettiin tends to appear in narrative prose, journalistic reporting, or dialogue where the writer wants to convey that something was whispered or stated without attributing the act to a specific subject. It can also appear in reported speech as a hedging device, implying that rumors or whispered statements circulated without clear attribution.

Example: Sanat murrettiin keskustelussa. The words were muttered in the discussion.

See also: Finnish grammar, Passive voice in Finnish, Verb conjugation in Finnish.