Epäkonkreettisiin

Epäkonkreettisiin is a Finnish adjective form meaning "abstract" or "non-concrete" when describing a plural noun in the illative case. It is used to indicate ideas, concepts, or phenomena that are not physically tangible. The form often appears in academic or analytical writing, for example in phrases like epäkonkreettisiin ideoihin, meaning "to abstract ideas."

Etymology and grammar: the form is built from the prefix epä- meaning not, together with konkreettinen, which means concrete. In Finnish, adjectives agree with the noun they modify in number and case, so epäkonkreettisiin arises when a plural noun in the illative case is described as abstract. Finnish morphology allows other inflected variants of the same adjective to suit different cases and numbers, but epäkonkreettisiin is most recognizable as the illative plural form.

Usage and nuance: epäkonkreettisiin is used to distinguish theoretical or intangible aspects from physical, concrete ones. It frequently appears in philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and social sciences, where researchers discuss concepts, models, or phenomena that do not have a direct physical form. The term conveys a emphasis on abstract reasoning, generalization, or hypothetical constructs rather than empirical, tangible instances.

See also: konkreettinen, abstrakti, käsite.