Alkuperäisinä

Alkuperäisinä is a Finnish adjective form built from alkuperäinen, meaning original, authentic, or native. The form is used with plural nouns to describe something that is being considered or presented as originals rather than copies. It commonly appears in formal, archival, museum, or legal contexts where the state or role of multiple items as originals is being communicated.

Usage and examples

The term is typically used with nouns in plural and often follows verbs that describe handling or evaluation of objects, such as säilytettiin, palautettiin, or pidettiin. For example: dokumentit palautettiin alkuperäisinä (“the documents were returned as originals”). Another example could be: Kaikki alkuperäisinä pidetyt tiedostot on tarkistettu (All files regarded as originals have been checked). In singular form, the corresponding essive is alkuperäisenä (as an original).

Grammatical note

Alkuperäisinä is the plural essive form of alkuperäinen, used when describing multiple items in the state of being originals. The singular equivalents are alkuperäinen (base adjective) and alkuperäisenä (singular essive), while other plural forms such as alkuperäisiä or alkuperäisten relate to different cases and syntactic roles. The choice among these forms depends on number, case, and the noun they modify.

Etymology and relation

The word derives from alkuperä, meaning origin or source, with the -inen suffix forming an adjective. The essive mood or case (indicating “in the capacity of”) yields the form -iná/-inä in plural contexts, as in alkuperäisinä. The term is closely related to alkuperäiset (the originals, nominative plural) and alkuperäisiä (the originals, partitive).

See also

alkuperäinen; alkuperäiset; alkuperäisiä; essive case in Finnish; archival terminology