pilkotaan

Pilkotaan is a Finnish verb form meaning “is chopped” or “are chopped.” It is the present passive form of the verb pilkota, which means to chop or cut into pieces or smaller parts. The passive form is impersonal, indicating the action without specifying who performs it. It is commonly used in cooking instructions, recipes, and procedural texts to describe steps in a neutral, general way.

Grammatically, pilkotaan is formed by adding the passive ending -taan/-ään to the stem pilkko- of pilkota. This creates an ongoing or general process: the subject of the sentence is the ingredient being prepared, not the person doing the chopping. For example, in a recipe, you might see: Sipulit pilkotaan pieniksi kuutioiksi (The onions are chopped into small cubes). Porkkanat pilkotaan suikaleiksi (The carrots are cut into strips).

Usage and nuance: Pilkotaan is versatile in instructional contexts. It can refer to a single item or plural ingredients, and it can describe a recommended or required step. While it typically appears in recipes, it also appears in manuals and guides where a procedure is described in generic terms rather than in active voice.

Translations: In English, pilkotaan is commonly rendered as “is chopped” or “are chopped.” The exact rendering depends on number and context, but the impersonal passive always centers the action rather than the actor.