Jälkeläisiin

Jälkeläisiin is a Finnish noun form derived from jälkeläinen, meaning descendant or offspring. In everyday language it refers to people who descend from a common ancestor, typically children, grandchildren, and further lineal descendants. In legal, genealogical, and demographic contexts the plural term jälkeläiset is common, and jälkeläisiin appears as one of the inflected forms used when the descendants are the recipient or the target of an action within a sentence.

In usage, jälkeläisiin is encountered in phrases where the descendants are involved as a group to whom rights, obligations, or distributions are directed. For example, in inheritance or estate matters, texts may discuss rights or duties “jälkeläisiin” in a context that marks direction toward the descendants. The form is part of Finnish’s rich case system, where nouns change shape to reflect grammatical role such as destination, recipient, or indirect object.

Etymologically, jälkeläinen is built from the root jälki, meaning trace or mark, with a suffix that denotes a person connected by descent. The term has long been used in family law, genealogy, and population studies to denote the line of descent from an ancestor and the people who belong to that line.

See also: jälkeläiset, perilliset, sukulaiset, suku, perintö.