Epämuodollisessa

Epämuodollisessa is the inessive singular form of the Finnish adjective epämuodollinen, which means informal or casual. The form is used to describe a noun that is in an informal context or setting. Like other Finnish adjectives, epämuodollinen agrees with the noun it modifies in case and number, so the ending changes accordingly.

In practice, epämuodollinen appears in phrases such as epämuodollisessa keskustelussa, epämuodollisessa tilaisuudessa or epämuodollisessa yhteydessä. Here the noun keskustelu, tilaisuus or yhteys is in the inessive case singular, and the adjective takes the corresponding inessive ending to agree with it. The vowel harmony of Finnish determines whether the ending is -ssa or -ssä, but with epämuodollinen the common form in the inessive singular is epämuodollisessa.

The adjective has a clear semantic contrast with muodollinen, which means formal. Epämuodollinen is frequently used to describe language, attire, or settings that are relaxed or casual, as opposed to strict or ceremonial contexts. It can appear in both spoken and written Finnish, though it is more common in informal or semi-formal discourse.

Examples of typical usage include describing a meeting with a relaxed atmosphere, a casual dress code, or an informal tone in communication. The term can be complemented by other descriptive elements, such as epämuodollisessa keskustelussa luotuja sääntöjä or epämuodollisessa ympäristössä vallitseva käytäntö, to specify the context.

Notes on form: Finnish adjectives decline for number and case, so the form changes with the noun. Other inflected forms of epämuodollinen include epämuodollisessa, epämuodollisissa, and related cases, depending on number and grammatical role.