väittää

Väittää is a Finnish verb meaning to claim, assert, or allege that something is true. It is used to present a statement as a belief or as something one thinks is the case, rather than as a proven fact. The verb is common in everyday speech and in formal writing, including media and legal or political discourse.

Grammatical notes: Väittää is transitive and conjugates regularly. The present tense is väittää; the past tense is väitti; the perfect form is väittänyt. The most frequent construction is a clause introduced by että: Hän väittää, että hän on oikeassa. Väittää can also take a direct content expression, such as a noun phrase or a more extended description of what is claimed; for example, Hän väittää todeksi tarinan. In reporting and journalism, the passive form väitetään is often used: Sitten väitetään, että… (It is claimed that…). Related noun forms include väite (a claim, an assertion) and väittäminen (the act of claiming).

Usage and nuance: Väittää conveys that a statement is being asserted rather than proven. It often signals that the claim is disputed, tentative, or unverified, in contrast to verbs like todistaa (to prove) or varmistaa (to confirm). The form väitettyä (claimed) and the adjective väitteellinen (claim-related) appear in more specialized contexts.

See also: väite, väittäminen, väiteellinen. The word is native Finnish; its core idea is the presentation of something as true by assertion rather than demonstration.