sotkea

Sotkea is a Finnish verb meaning to make a mess, to tangle, or to muddle. It is used for both physical disarray—such as objects or spaces becoming untidy—and for nondiscrete, abstract disruption, such as plans or explanations becoming confused. The base noun sotku denotes a mess or disorder, and the related adjective sotkuinen means messy. The act of making a mess can be expressed with the noun sotkeminen (the act of messing up).

Etymology and form: Sotkea derives from sotku, sharing a core sense of disorder. It is a common, colloquial verb in everyday Finnish and follows standard Finnish conjugation patterns for transitive verbs. The word appears in various tenses and moods, and is frequently found in imperative form in everyday speech.

Usage notes: Sotkea is typically transitive and commonly paired with a direct object in expressions such as sotkea asioita or sotkea suunnitelmat, conveying the idea of messing things up or complicating matters. A familiar phrase is Älä sotke asioita, meaning “Don’t mess things up.” The term can also describe physical untidiness, as in a room or workspace becoming cluttered, or more figurative disorder in a situation or process.

Related terms: sotku (mess), sotkuinen (messy), sotkeminen (the act of making a mess), sekoittaa (to mix up).

See also: sotku, sotkuinen, sotkeminen, sekoittaa.