siistivät

Siistivät is a Finnish verb form meaning they tidied or they cleaned up. It is the past tense (imperfect) indicative mood, 3rd person plural, of the verb siistiä, which means to tidy or clean. The form is used when the subject is plural and the action took place in the past. For example: He siistivät huoneen ennen vieraita (They tidied the room before the guests arrived).

In Finnish, the 3rd person plural past tense is marked by the ending -ivat or -ivät, depending on vowel harmony. With siistiä, the result is siistivät. This form can be used with a wide range of objects, such as huoneen, pöydän, säätöjen, or tilat, to indicate that those spaces were made neat or cleaned by multiple people.

Nuances and usage: siistivät emphasizes the act of making something neat or orderly, rather than a deep or thorough cleaning. It can imply tidying up, organizing, removing clutter, or completing a cleaning task before a particular event or deadline. The sentence context often clarifies whether the action was routine, preparatory, or in response to guests or a specific need.

Related forms include the present tense siistii (they tidy), the imperative siisti (tidy up!), and nominal forms such as siisteys (cleanliness). Siistivät remains primarily a narrative past-tense form used in reports, stories, and descriptions of past events where a group performed tidying or cleaning.