vähendada

Vähendada is an Estonian verb meaning to reduce or decrease something in amount, level, or intensity. It is a transitive verb that typically takes a direct object and is used in both everyday language and formal contexts such as science, industry, environment, and policy discussions. The action described by vähendada is generally intentional, involving measures, practices, or changes aimed at lowering a value.

Common usages include reducing consumption of resources (vähendada tarbimist), reducing risk (vähendada riski), reducing harm (vähendada kahju) and reducing energy use (vähendada energiatarbimist). In news, policy documents and technical writing it often describes deliberate steps or interventions designed to lower a measured parameter or outcome.

Grammatical notes and forms: In the present tense the forms are: ma vähendan, sa vähendad, ta vähendab, me vähendame, te vähendate, nad vähendavad. Past tense forms include ma vähendasin, sa vähendasid, ta vähendas, me vähendasime, te vähendasite, nad vähendasid. The past participle is vähendatud; the present participle is vähendav. The related noun forms include vähendamine (the act of reducing) and, in some contexts, vähenemine as well.

See also and related terms: The concept is often discussed alongside terms like vähendamine, vähenemine and suurendam, which denotes the opposite action of increasing. In practical use, vähendada appears across domains such as environmental policy, public health, economics and everyday life, where lowering a target value is the objective.