Generaatiolla

generaatiolla is the adessive case form of the Finnish noun generaatio, a loanword meaning "generation." In Finnish grammar the suffix -lla/-llä marks the adessive, which can express location, possession (in a subject-predicate construction), or accompaniment, so generaatiolla translates in context to phrases such as "on the generation," "the generation has," or "with the generation."

The word is used in sociological, cultural and popular discourse to refer to a cohort of people born in a similar time period and sharing particular experiences, values or tastes. Because generaatio is a borrowing alongside the native word sukupolvi, generaatio and its inflected forms often appear in formal writing, media, marketing and academic texts; sukupolvi remains common in everyday speech.

Typical usages

- Generaatiolla on erilaiset arvot kuin edellisellä sukupolvella. (The generation has different values than the previous one.)

- Teknologinen murros näkyy monella generaatio­lla. (Technological upheaval is visible in many generations.)

- Tuotetta kehitetään nimenomaan tietylle generaatio­lla. (The product is being developed specifically for a certain generation.)

Etymology and related forms

Generaatio derives from Latin generatio via other European languages; its basic form is generaatio, plural generaatio­t, and generaatiolla is one of its case-inflected forms used according to standard Finnish syntax.