Imperatiiviksi

Imperatiiviksi is a Finnish grammatical term that refers to the inflected form of a verb that denotes the imperative mood, translated into English as "into imperative." The suffix –ksi is added to the verb stem to indicate this change in mood, creating a form that commands or requests an action. For example, the verb “kirjoittaa” (to write) becomes “kirjoita‑ksi” in the imperative, meaning “write!” or “to write (imperatively).”

In Finnish, the imperative mood is used primarily for giving orders, instructions, or suggestions. The verb form is typically plain, without a subject pronoun, and often appears in the second person singular or plural contexts. The addition of –ksi can also serve to indicate a shift from a declarative or indicative sense to a direct command. The imperative form can appear in various grammatical contexts, such as within adjectives in commands (“tehdä‑ksi” – “do it!”) or as part of compound verbs. The usage pattern follows the rule that the –ksi suffix is attached to the infinitive stem, except in a few irregular verbs which may have unique imperative forms.

Linguistic notes indicate that the imperative suffix –ksi is related to other Finnish case suffixes that denote "into" or "for" (e.g., -ksi as substantive case). Although imperatiiviksi is primarily understood as a language word, it is sometimes used metaphorically in literary descriptions to emphasize a transformation into a commanding or authoritative tone. The term is defined in Finnish linguistic dictionaries and used by grammarians to describe the morphological change necessary for imperative construction in the language.