Epäsäännölliset

Epäsäännölliset, or irregulars, is a linguistic term used for words whose inflected forms do not follow the regular patterns of their word class. In Finnish linguistics the term is most often applied to epäsäännölliset verbit (irregular verbs), but it can also refer to nouns or adjectives that exhibit unexpected inflection.

In Finnish, many verbs form most of their tenses and moods according to predictable conjugation rules, but a subset deviates from these patterns. Irregularities can appear in one or more forms, and may stem from historical sound changes, borrowings from other languages, or suppletion, where a form uses a completely different root for different structures. Some irregular verbs are highly frequent, making their irregular forms especially salient for language learners.

The concept of epäsäännölliset is not unique to Finnish; most languages have irregular forms that resist standard paradigms. For linguists and language technologies, irregulars present a challenge because they require exceptions in grammars, dictionaries, and computational models. In practice, irregular forms are often memorized as part of core vocabulary or handled through lexical entries in parsing and generation systems.

Understanding epäsäännölliset helps explain why language learners confront exceptions to rules and why dictionaries label certain forms as irregular. The notion also clarifies why some verbs or word classes behave differently from the majority, prompting separate treatment in education and in linguistic description.

See also: Epäsäännölliset verbit, Finnish grammar, Suppletion, Morphology.