Adjektiivisenä

Adjektiivisenä is the essive case form of the Finnish adjective adjektiivinen and is commonly glossed in English as "as an adjective" or "in adjectival form." The essive (-na/-nä) marks a temporary state, role, capacity or function; when used with adjectives it indicates that something is being considered or used in the capacity of an adjective rather than in some other role.

Typical uses include describing how a word or phrase functions in a sentence ("sanaa käytetään adjektiivisenä" — "the word is used as an adjective"), indicating a temporary characterization, or specifying an adopted role. The form exemplifies Finnish case morphology: the adjective base combines with the essive ending to express this role, and the vowel in the ending follows Finnish vowel harmony rules.

Adjektiivisenä contrasts with other case or derivational forms that express different relations: nominative (basic citation form), translative (-ksi) to indicate change into something, and adverbial or predicate positions where different inflections are used. In grammatical description, it is referenced when discussing syntactic functions, word class shifting, and the interaction of morphology and syntax in Finnish.

Related terms include adjektiivi (adjective), adjektiivinen (adjectival/adjective), and the essive case (essive).