määräytyivät

Määräytyivät is the third-person plural past tense form of the Finnish verb määräytyä. The verb refers to the process of being determined, fixed, or defined by rules, criteria, conditions, or governing forces. In this form, määräytyivät indicates that a group or set of subjects underwent this process in the past and were subsequently defined or fixed as a result.

The word is commonly used in formal, legal, administrative, and economic contexts. It appears in sentences about how outcomes, classifications, or prices were established by policy, regulation, market forces, or data. For example, hinnat määräytyivät markkinoiden mukaan means “prices were determined by the market,” and kriteerit määräytyivät asetettujen rajojen perusteella means “the criteria were defined based on set limits.” Because of its formal tone, määräytyivät often occurs in reports, analyses, and official texts.

Etymology and related forms: määräytyä is built from the noun määrä (meaning measure, amount, rule) plus the verbal suffix that forms a reflexive/inchoative sense. The noun form määräytyminen refers to the act or process of determination. Related verbs include määrätä (to determine, to prescribe, to appoint), which is causative in sense and often used in different grammatical frames.

See also: määrätä, määräytyminen, määrääminen. In translations, määräytyivät is typically rendered as “were determined” or “were fixed,” depending on context.