Formaalista

Formaalista is the partitive singular form of the Finnish adjective muodollinen or formalinen? In standard Finnish, the adjective form is formaalinen, and its partitive singular inflection is formaalista. The word itself is not a standalone concept but a grammatical inflection used when describing nouns in the partitive case.

In Finnish, adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in number and case. The form formaalista appears when the noun is in the partitive case, typically used with mass or non-count nouns or in contexts implying an indefinite amount. For example, formaalista kieltä means formal language, and formaalista viestintää means formal communication. The form can also appear with plural nouns in the partitive sense, such as formaalisia dokumentteja (formal documents, in partitive).

Usage and nuances: formaalista is most common in written Finnish, especially in discussions of register, style, or approach. It is interchangeable with more widely used synonyms such as muodollista, though the two forms may carry subtle register differences in particular contexts. As a grammatical form, formaalista does not carry new lexical meaning beyond the adjective’s sense of formality; its function is to mark grammatical case.

See also: Finnish language, Finnish adjectives, partitive case, grammatical inflection, language register.