Ikän

Ikään is a Finnish word-form that functions as the illative singular of the noun ikä, meaning age. In Finnish, the illative is a directional case used to express movement into a state or into a location or condition. For the noun ikä, the illative becomes ikään, a form that appears in more formal, literary, or historic contexts and in certain fixed expressions.

Etymology and morphology: ikä, meaning age, forms the illative as ikään. The change from ikä to ikään reflects the standard pattern for illative formations of some -ä nouns in Finnish. The illative suffix -ään (with phonological adjustments) yields this distinctive final vowel sequence. As with other Finnish cases, ikään combines with modifiers and numerals to situate age in a sentence, typically in contexts that refer to entering or attaining a particular age.

Usage: Ikään is most commonly found in written Finnish, archival texts, or stylistically elevated language. In everyday spoken Finnish, speakers frequently use alternative constructions to convey age or aging, such as periphrastic expressions (for example, referring to being of a certain age without relying on the illative form). Ikään can also appear in idiomatic or historical phrases that preserve older grammatical patterns.

Related topics: Finnish grammar, illative case, ikä (the base noun), nominal inflection in Finnish.

Overall, ikään represents a specific grammatical form that links the concept of age to a state or condition in a formal or literary register, illustrating Finnish’s rich case system and its use of illative forms with -ään endings for certain -ä nouns.