Epävakaata

Epävakaata is the partitive singular form of the Finnish adjective epävakaa, meaning unstable or volatile. It is used to describe conditions, systems, or objects that lack stability or predictability and is common in everyday language as well as technical discourse.

Etymology and form: The word comes from the prefix epä- meaning “not” combined with vaka, “stable.” Epävakaa has several grammatical forms to agree with the noun it modifies; epävakaata is the partitive singular form used with non-countable or partially bounded nouns, for example in phrases like epävakaata säätä or epävakaata tilannetta.

Grammatical usage: In Finnish, adjectives inflect to match the noun in number and case. Epävakaata is used when the noun is in the partitive case, often signaling incomplete action, ongoing conditions, or general, non-definite references. For predicate use, the nominative form epävakaa is typical (Sää on epävakaa).

Contexts and examples: Epävakaata is frequently used for weather, e.g., epävakaata säätä (unstable weather). It also appears in discussions of politics or economics, such as epävakaata tilannetta (unstable situation) or epävakaata taloudellista kehitystä (unstable economic development). In science, it can describe unstable compounds or reactions (epävakaita yhdisteitä, epävakaita reaktioita). The term conveys risk and unpredictability associated with the described condition.

Related terms include epävakaus (instability) and epävakuus (insecurity). Epävakaata functions as a versatile, neutral descriptor across multiple Finnish registers.