tarvitsivat

Tarvitsivat is the past tense form of the Finnish verb tarvita, and it means “they needed” or “they required.” It is the third-person plural form in the imperfect (imperfekti) mood, active voice. The verb tarvita describes a need or requirement for a thing, condition, or resource in the past.

In Finnish, tarvita is a transitive verb often used with a direct object expressed in the partitive case when the amount is indefinite, or in the accusative/genitive when the reference is definite. Examples in past tense illustrate this: “He tarvitsivat lisää aikaa” (They needed more time) and “He tarvitsivat rahaa” (They needed money). The object form depends on definiteness and quantity, as is typical with Finnish verb constructions.

Grammatically, tarvitsivat is formed from the verb stem tarvitt- with the 3rd-person plural imperfect suffix -ivat. It contrasts with forms like tarvitsee (he/she needs) in the present tense and tarvitsimme (we needed) in the first-person plural past. The verb also has related forms and derivatives, such as the noun tarve (need), and adjectives like tarpeellinen (necessary) or the participle tarvittava (needing). These form a family around the core concept of necessity or requirement.

Tarvitsivat is a common and versatile form used in narratives and reports to describe past necessities or prerequisites that were present for a group. It often appears in contexts involving planning, resource allocation, or outcomes that depended on obtaining something.