ontavat

Ontavat is a Finnish verb form that appears as the third-person plural present indicative of verbs whose infinitive ends with -ta or -tä. It marks that multiple subjects perform the action in the present. The form is generated by taking the verb stem and adding the standard present plural ending -vat or -vät, with the choice determined by vowel harmony and, in some stems, consonant assimilation.

In usage, ontavat functions like other present-tense plural forms in Finnish, used to describe actions that are habitual, generally true, or occurring in the present with appropriate context. Finnish conjugation patterns mean that the same root can yield different surface forms for different persons and numbers; ontavat specifically identifies the 3rd person plural.

Compared with other person forms, ontavat often co-occurs with subjects such as “he” or “ne” (they), or any plural subject. In negative clauses, it may appear with the negative particle ei plus the verb in its base-infinitive form, or with other clause structures, depending on sentence design. The precise phonological form can vary with the preceding stem, but the underlying rule remains the addition of the -vat/-vät ending to the verb stem.

See also: Finnish grammar, Verb conjugation, -ta/-tä verbs.