Kansaa

Kansaa is the partitive singular form of the Finnish noun kansa, meaning “the people” or “a people.” In Finnish grammar, the partitive case is used to express indefinite quantities, ongoing actions, or objects of certain verbs. Kansaa appears when the noun referring to people is the object of a verb that requires the partitive, such as koskea (to concern or affect). For example, in the sentence Lainsäädäntö koskee kansaa, “the legislation concerns the people,” kansaa functions as the partitive object.

The genitive form of kansa is kansan, used to indicate possession, as in kansan oikeudet “the rights of the people.” The nominative plural is kansat, with corresponding inflected forms in other cases. Kansaa is also found in phrases that express purpose or relation, such as varten (for) or vastaan (against), e.g., kansaa varten or kansaa vastaan, where the partitive marks indefiniteness or scope.

Etymology traces kansaa to the Proto-Finnic word *kansa*, meaning “people” or “nation.” It is semantically related to other Finnish terms like kansakunta (nation) and to general concepts of the public or citizenry.

In modern Finnish usage, kansaa as a partitive form is routine in legal, political, and literary contexts when the discourse refers to the public or a group of people in a non-definite sense or as the object of an action.