syötä

Syötä is the imperative singular form of the Finnish verb syöttää, meaning to feed, provide nourishment, or to input or insert information. In everyday Finnish it is used to tell someone to give food to someone or something, and it is also common in instructions or user interfaces to indicate data entry or data submission. For example, syötä kissalle ruokaa means “feed the cat,” and syötä tiedot lomakkeelle means “enter the data into the form.”

Grammatically, syötä is the second-person singular imperative of syöttää. Finnish imperatives do not change for person beyond form, so syötä is used when addressing one person in a direct order or request. The meaning can shift slightly depending on context: with a food-related object it instructs feeding, while with data-related objects it instructs inputting information into a device, form, or system. The plural imperative form is syöttäkää, used when addressing more than one person.

Common contexts include domestic instructions, pet care, and computing or data-entry tasks. In computing, phrases like Syötä salasana or Syötä tiedot are typical, signaling the user to provide a password or input data. The verb is closely related to syöttää, from which its causative sense of supplying or providing arises; the root connects to the idea of putting something into or feeding a recipient.

Notes and usage tips: syötä is distinct from syö, which means “eat” and is a simpler, unrelated verb. When conveying a command, ensure the subject is appropriate for a direct address, as in syötä meille ruokaa (please feed us) or syötä tiedot oikein (enter the data correctly).