suhtutakse

Suhtutakse is an Estonian verb form, the impersonal (also called passive or indefinite) present of the verb suhtuma, meaning “to have an attitude toward,” “to regard” or “to treat.” It expresses actions or states without specifying a grammatical subject, roughly equivalent in English to “people (in general) regard/are regarded” or “it is regarded.”

Grammatically, suhtutakse is formed from the verb stem suhtu- plus the impersonal/passive present suffix -takse. The impersonal construction is common in Estonian for general statements, instructions, reports and impersonal observations where the agent is unknown, irrelevant or generalized. Contrast with the personal plural form nad suhtuvad (“they regard”), which names an explicit subject.

Typical uses include journalistic and academic contexts and everyday descriptions: for example, “siin suhtutakse muutustesse avatult” (“people here are open to changes”) or “probleemi suhtutakse tõsiselt” (“the problem is treated seriously”). The corresponding impersonal past is suhtuti, and other related forms follow regular Estonian conjugation patterns (suhtutaks for conditional, suhtutud as a passive participle in some constructions).

Etymologically suhtuma derives from the noun suht(e) “relation”/“attitude” and the verb-forming suffix -uma. Suhtutakse therefore functions as a neutral, widely used way to report collective attitudes or impersonal actions in Estonian.