Õitsevad

Õitsevad is the third-person plural present tense form of the Estonian verb õitsema, which means to bloom or to flower. It is used to describe plants, flowers, or other living things that are currently in bloom, with a plural subject such as lilled (flowers) or taimed (plants).

In everyday Estonian, õitsevad appears in sentences like "Lilled õitsevad kevadel" (The flowers bloom in spring) or "Roosid õitsevad aias" (The roses are blooming in the garden). The corresponding singular form is "õitseb" (he/she/it blooms). The form reflects standard Estonian present tense conjugation for -ma verbs.

The verb õitsema belongs to the native Estonian vocabulary for plant life and horticulture and is commonly used in botany, gardening writing, news reports about flowering seasons, and literary descriptions of landscapes. It emphasizes the ongoing process of blooming rather than a completed state.

A related morphological form is the present active participle "õitsev," used as an adjective to describe something that is blooming, for example "õitsev roos" (a blooming rose) or "õitsevad lilled" when used in a descriptive sense. This participle-usage helps connect verb meaning with noun phrases in descriptive passages.

Etymology traces the root to the Estonian verb õitsema, with standard inflection patterns for -ma verbs in contemporary Estonian. The term remains a common and neutral descriptor in both spoken and written language, particularly in contexts related to plants, gardening, and seasonal cycles.