südi

Söödi is the past passive form of the Estonian verb sööma, which means to eat. It is used to indicate that the action of eating occurred without specifying who performed it. In Estonian, the passive voice allows reporting events where the agent is unknown or unimportant, focusing on the action and its result rather than on the doer.

The form söödi is typically used for past events and can describe meals, dishes, or food-related actions where the emphasis is on the fact that the food was eaten rather than on who ate it. It often appears in narrative or informative contexts, such as news reports, recipes, or historical descriptions, where the actor is either unspecified or not relevant to the point being made.

Morphology-wise, söödi is derived from the stem of the verb sööma and carries a past tense meaning in the passive voice. The subject of the sentence is the thing that was eaten, while the performer of the action remains unspecified. This contrasts with active constructions like “ta söi” (he ate) where the agent is explicit.

Etymologically, the form is part of the broader Estonian system of passive past forms, which attach specific endings to the verb stem to express a completed action without naming the agent. Söödi has parallels with other verbs in Estonian that use the same past passive pattern.

See also: Estonian grammar, passive voice, sööma.