syödään

Syödään is a Finnish verb form derived from syödä (to eat). It is the present passive form, used to express actions without specifying the agent. In neutral contexts, syödään is often translated as “is eaten” or “are eaten,” or more loosely as “one eats” or “people eat” when describing eating in general.

In everyday Finnish, syödään is also used to invite others to eat. As an exclamation, syödään means “Let’s eat!” and variants like “Syödään yhdessä” mean “Let’s eat together.” This use is common in casual speech and informal gatherings. Note that this function is distinct from saying “we eat” in a definite sense; if you want to express a definite subject “we eat,” you would typically use syömme.

The form frequently appears in menus, signs, and descriptive statements about dining in an impersonal style, such as “Ravintolassa syödään hyvin” (“In the restaurant, one eats well / people eat well there”). The construction is a standard feature of Finnish grammar for indicating eating without naming who is doing the eating.

Pronunciation and notes: syödään is pronounced roughly like SYÖ-dän, with the d sound audible. The form provides a flexible, impersonal means of discussing eating and also serves as a short, idiomatic invitation in social contexts.