pidättivät

Pidättivät is the third-person plural past tense form of the Finnish verb pidättää. The core meaning of pidättää is to detain, hold back, or in a legal and police context to arrest and take someone into custody. Therefore pidättivät is typically used to describe actions carried out by multiple subjects in the past, such as authorities detaining a suspect or individuals restraining someone or something.

In legal and news reporting, pidättivät is most often rendered in English as “detained” or “arrested.” For example, Poliisit pidättivät epäillyn eilen translates to “The police detained/arrested the suspect yesterday.” The verb can also appear in non-legal contexts where the sense of keeping back or withholding is intended, though in everyday Finnish this sense is less common and may rely on different verbs or constructions.

Grammatically, pidättivät is the indicative mood, active voice, past tense, and third-person plural form. The present tense form is pidättävät (they detain), and other related forms include pidätti (he/she detained) and pidätys (detention/arrest, the noun form). The verb stems from pidättää, with the related noun pidätys referring to the act or state of detention.

Usage notes: pidättivät is a formal, neutral term suitable for official reporting and descriptive writing. Its interpretation as “detained” or “arrested” depends on context, particularly who conducted the action and under what legal framework.