Asukkaita

Asukkaita is the plural partitive form of the Finnish noun asukas, meaning inhabitants or residents of a place. The base word asukas refers to a person who lives somewhere, typically a city, town, or municipality. The standard plural nominative is asukkaat, while asukkaita is used when the noun functions as a plural object or in phrases that require the partitive case, such as after words indicating quantity or indefinite amounts. In some contexts asukkaita can also appear as a plural accusative form.

Usage and context: Asukkaita is common in demographic, geographic, and administrative writing. The partitive plural is used after verbs that take a partitive object, and in expressions describing non-specific or large numbers of residents. It often appears with descriptors like paljon (a lot of), suuri määrä (a large number), or erilaisia (various).

Examples:

- Kaupungissa on paljon asukkaita. (There are many inhabitants in the city.)

- Kyselyyn vastasi suuri määrä asukkaita. (A large number of inhabitants replied to the survey.)

Related terms: The singular form asukas means a single resident, and the plural asukkaat refers to multiple residents in the nominative case. The word is widely used in official statistics, municipal reports, and local descriptions to discuss population composition and residential patterns.

Notes: Finnish noun forms depend on case and syntactic role; asukkaita specifically marks a plural partitive or sometimes plural accusative, depending on the sentence structure.