Selvittää

Translations

1. to examine, investigate, find out

   Tehtäväni on selvittää, miksi kunnossapitokustannukset ovat nousseet.

   My task is to find out why the maintenance costs have increased.

2. to get to the bottom of (to understand, discover the truth about, or solve)

   Synonym: ottaa selvää

   En tiedä, mitä täällä touhutaan, mutta minä selvitän sen ennemmin tai myöhemmin.

   I don't know what's going on here, but I'll get to the bottom of it sooner or later.

3. to make clear, clarify

   Synonym: selventää

   En ymmärrä tätä kappaletta. Voitko selvittää, mitä tarkoitat?

   I don't understand this chapter. Can you clarify what you want to say?

4. to clear (like an airplane for departure, goods through customs, or payments between banks)
5. to settle (as accounts)

   Selvitin tilini hänen kanssaan.

   I settled my accounts with him.

6. to disentangle, unravel (often figuratively)

   Tämä narukasa on niin sekaisin, että en pysty selvittämään sitä.

   This heap of cord is such a mess that I cannot disentangle it.

7. (rare) Synonym of selittää (“to explain”)

   Kunnossapitokustannukset ovat kaksinkertaistuneet viime vuodesta. Voitko selvittää, mistä on kysymys?

   The maintenance costs have doubled from last year. Can you explain why this has happened?

Conjugations

Indicative Conjugations

The present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect (past perfect) tenses in English correspond to "speaks", "spoke", "has spoken", and "had spoken".

Conditional Conjugations

The conditional present and perfect moods in English typically correspond to "would" and "would have".