Epävakaasta

Epävakaasta is the elative singular form of the Finnish adjective epävakaa, meaning unstable or precarious. In Finnish, adjectives inflect to agree with the noun in case and number, and the elative case expresses origin or source, roughly “from” or “out of.” For the adjective epävakaa, the elative singular ending is -sta (with -stä after front vowels), giving epävakaasta. Thus epävakaasta means “from an unstable” when it modifies a noun in the elative.

Usage of epävakaasta occurs only with a following noun in the elative. Common examples include epävakaasta tilanteesta (from an unstable situation) and epävakaasta säästä (from unstable weather). Example sentences: “Epävakaasta tilanteesta puhuttiin paljon.” “Sääennuste varoittaa epävakaasta säästä.” In these phrases, epävakaasta describes the noun and the elative form links to the rest of the clause.

Etymology and form: epävakaa is formed with the negating prefix epä- attached to vakaa (stable). Epävakaasta is the inflected elative singular form used when the noun it modifies appears in the elative case. This form is one of several inflectional endings Finnish adjectives use to agree with nouns across cases, numbers, and definiteness.

See also: epävakaa, epävakaus, Finnish adjective inflection, elative case.