Fiktiivisenä

Fiktiivisenä is the essive form of the Finnish adjective fiktiivinen, meaning fictional. It is used to describe something as belonging to fiction or existing only within a narrative. The term appears in literary discussion, reviews, and media discourse when writers want to indicate that a person, event, or element is not real.

Morphology and usage: In Finnish, the essive case marks a temporary state and commonly uses the suffix -na/-nä. Fiktiivisenä is formed from fiktiivinen by adding the essive ending, and is typically attached to a noun to indicate role or state, for example fiktiivisenä hahmona (as a fictional character) or fiktiivisenä tarinana (as a fictional story). It can also modify other parts of a clause, such as "Tapahtumat ovat fiktiivisiä" (the events are fictional), where the adjective is in its basic form.

Contexts: The term is frequent in literary analysis, storytelling discussions, and disclaimers that clarify fictionality. It contrasts with factual or non-fictional descriptions, and helps writers distinguish invented material from real-world references. In narrative work, prose may describe a character or scene by stating that it exists fiktiivisenä hahmona tarinassa or as part of a fiktiivinen maailma (a fictional world).

Etymology: Fiktiivinen derives from fiktio, related to the Latin fictio meaning a feigning or making. Fiktiivisenä is the grammatical form used to express “as fictional” within a sentence. See also fiktiivinen, fiktio.