pudottuvat

Pudottuvat is a Finnish verb form that functions as the third-person plural present tense of the intransitive verb pudota, meaning to fall or to tumble. It is used to describe multiple subjects that are falling or are in the process of falling, without specifying an agent causing the fall.

In Finnish, verbs inflect for person and number, and the ending on pudottuvat signals the 3rd person plural present. The form therefore marks ongoing or habitual falling by several subjects, such as objects, natural phenomena, or people described in narrative or descriptive contexts. The related transitive verb pudottaa means to drop something, and its 3rd person plural present form is pudottavat, which is used when the sentence has a direct object that is dropped.

Morphology and related forms: pudottuvat derives from the root pudot- with standard Finnish present-tense suffixes. It contrasts with pudottavat (they drop something) and with pudottaa (to drop something, transitive). The distinction reflects Finnish grammar’s separation of intransitive “to fall” and transitive “to drop (something).” Other related forms include pudotus (a fall or drop) and pudottua (to have fallen, a past participle form used in different constructions).

Usage: pudottuvat appears in descriptive or narrative text to convey that several items or phenomena are falling. It is common in natural descriptions (for example, weathering or rockfalls) and in everyday language when multiple objects fall. As with many Finnish verbs, exact nuance depends on context and surrounding words.

Note: The form is part of standard Finnish conjugation and illustrates how Finnish encodes number and aspect in a single word through inflection.