pidättää

Pidättää is a Finnish verb with several related meanings. The core sense is to restrain or hold back, and it can be used in different contexts. In law enforcement, pidättää means to detain or arrest a person temporarily: Poliisi pidätti epäillyn. This use is transitive and typically involves authorities taking a person into custody, after which further legal procedures may follow.

Beyond legal usage, pidättää can denote restraining or withholding something or someone. Example: pidättää vihansa to hold back one’s anger, pidättää tietoa to withhold information, or pidättää maksut to postpone or withhold payment in a transaction.

A further sense is reflexive or intransitive when referring to self-restraint: pidättää itsensä meaning to hold oneself back, e.g., from laughing or crying, or pidättää hengitystään to hold one's breath.

The noun form pidätys refers to the act of detaining or the state of being detained, while the verb’s various forms appear in different syntactic constructions. The verb is conjugated regularly in Finnish, with forms such as pidättää (present third person), pidätti (past), and pidättänyt (perfect participle).

Usage notes: In formal and legal Finnish, precise terminology is used, with pidätys denoting detention and other terms such as arrest or custody used for specific procedures. In everyday language, pidättää expresses general notions of restraint, withholding, or self-control.