noudattaa

Noudattaa is a Finnish verb meaning to comply with or to follow something such as laws, rules, guidelines, or orders. It denotes adherence to a rule-set or obligation and is widely used in legal, administrative, and everyday language. The object of noudattaa is typically in the partitive case, for example lakeja (laws), sääntöjä (rules), or ohjeita (instructions).

Grammatically, noudattaa is a regular verb of the -taa type. In the present tense it takes person- and number-specific forms, for example minä noudatan and hän noudattaa. The past tense and other forms are formed using standard Finnish verb suffixes. The imperative forms are noudata (singular) and noudattakaa (plural).

Usage: The verb is common in official contexts—policies and legislation require citizens to noudattaa määräyksiä and lakeja—but it is also used in everyday talk, as in noudattaa aikataulua (to keep to a schedule) or noudattaa ohjeita (to follow instructions).

Related noun and adjectives: noudattaminen (compliance, adherence) is the noun form. An adherent or compliant person or policy can be described with noudattava.

See also: compliance, adherence, obedience.