ympäröitiin

ympäröitiin is the passive past tense form of the Finnish verb ympäröidä. The verb ympäröidä means "to surround" or "to encircle". Therefore, "ympäröitiin" translates to "was surrounded" or "were surrounded" in English.

This grammatical form is used when describing a situation where the subject of the sentence was the recipient of the action of surrounding, and the action took place in the past. For example, "Kaupunki ympäröitiin nopeasti" would mean "The city was quickly surrounded." Similarly, if a group of people were the object of the surrounding action, the same form would be used, as Finnish does not distinguish between singular and plural passive past tense in this way. The context of the sentence would clarify whether a singular or plural entity was surrounded.

The passive voice in Finnish, including forms like "ympäröitiin", is often used to emphasize the event or the object of the action rather than the agent performing the action. This can be useful in historical accounts, news reports, or when the agent is unknown or unimportant. It is a common construction in Finnish and appears frequently in various written and spoken contexts.