Ilmiöstä

Ilmiöstä is the elative singular form of the Finnish noun ilmiö, meaning phenomenon. In Finnish, ilmiö can refer to any observable occurrence, event, or phenomenon in nature, science, or everyday life. The elative case marks origin, source, or basis and is used with verbs and expressions that convey “from” or “out of” the phenomenon, or to indicate information derived from it.

Formation and form. The elative singular suffix is -stä (after a stem ending in a vowel, as in ilmiö). Thus the nominative ilmiö becomes ilmiöstä in the elative. The corresponding plural form is ilmiöistä, used for “from the phenomena.” Finnish uses many cases to express nuanced relations, and ilmiöstä is a common way to refer to data, conclusions, or implications drawn from a phenomenon.

Usage notes. Ilmiöstä is frequently found in formal and scholarly Finnish, especially in scientific writing and journalism, when reporting observations or drawing conclusions. A well-known expression is ilmiöstä käy ilmi, meaning “it becomes evident from the phenomenon,” or more idiomatically, “it shows from the phenomenon that …” This construction signals that the subsequent information is derived from or inferred from the phenomenon in question.

Examples.

- Ilmiöstä käy ilmi, että lämpötilat ovat nousseet. (From the phenomenon it becomes evident that temperatures have risen.)

- Tutkimuksessa ilmiöstä saadaan lisää näytteitä. (In the study, more evidence is obtained from the phenomenon.)

See also. Finnish grammar, noun cases, elative case, ilmiö.