Arvauksiin

Arvauksiin is the illative plural form of the Finnish noun arvaus, meaning a guess or estimate. In Finnish grammar, the illative case expresses direction toward something, so arvauksiin translates roughly to “into guesses” or “toward guesses.” It is used in sentences where the noun functions as the target or direction of an action described by the surrounding verb, particularly in written or analytic contexts.

Morphology and formation: The base form arvaus meaning guess combines with the illative plural suffix -iin to yield arvauksiin. This pattern follows other -us nouns that form illative plurals with -iin, such as kysymyksiin from kysymys (question). The illative plural is a specific case form and differs from the nominative arvaus, the partitive arvausta/arvauksia, or the genitive arvausten.

Usage and nuance: In everyday speech, the illative plural arvauksiin is relatively uncommon. Speakers more often use arvaus in the singular or arvausta/arvauksia in the partitive or genitive contexts. Arvauksiin tends to appear in linguistic descriptions, discourse analysis, or discussions that involve psychological or probabilistic reasoning where the focus is on moving toward or addressing multiple guesses or estimates.

Etymology and related terms: Arvaus stems from arva, the verb meaning “to guess.” Related forms include arvausta, arvauksia, and arvausten, with related verbs such as arvata (to guess) and ennustaa (to predict). The illative plural arvauksiin is one of several case forms used to convey direction toward a state or activity in Finnish.