naarmuttavat

Naarmuttavat is Finnish for the third-person plural present indicative form of the verb naarmuttaa, meaning to scratch or to mar by scratching. The form is used when the subject is plural and performs scratching on a surface or object. For example: Koirat naarmuttavat lattian ja huonekalut, meaning "The dogs scratch the floor and the furniture." The verb is transitive and typically takes a direct object in the accusative or partitive case, depending on the construction.

Grammatical notes: naarmuttaa is the infinitive form, from which naarmuttavat is derived by adding the personal ending -vat for the third-person plural present. Finnish verbs with -ttaa/-ttää endings often denote causation or a deliberate action. Other related forms include naarmuttaminen (the act of scratching) and naarmuttava (scratching or the one who scratches, as a present participle). A synonym in everyday language is raapia, which also means to scratch or scrape.

Usage context: the form naarmuttavat is common in descriptions of animals scratching surfaces, people scratching with their nails, or objects causing scratches. It can appear in everyday speech and in descriptive writing to convey physical action or damage caused by scratching.

Etymology and related terms: the core noun naarmu means a scratch or nick, and the verb naarmuttaa is built with the causative-oriented suffix -uttaa to express making scratches. Related terms include naarmuttaminen and raapia, providing lexical connections within the same semantic field.

See also: naarmuttaa, raapia, naarmu.