Kehtivatena

Kehtivatena is a Finnish term used to refer to a specific inflected form of the adjective kehtiva, which carries the sense of something being valid or in force. In formal Finnish, kehtivatena serves to describe the status of a rule, regulation, document, or provision as currently applicable. The form is primarily found in legal, administrative, and scholarly texts rather than in everyday language.

Etymology and grammatical notes

The base kehtiva means "valid" or "enforceable," derived from the root keht- relating to validity. The suffix -na attaches to form an inflected, essive-like construction that can be translated loosely as “as valid” or “in the state of being valid.” Kehtivatena is thus seen as a specialized or technical inflection used in precise, formal descriptions of status. Because it is a niche form, its use is comparatively rare outside official or linguistic contexts, and some grammars treat it as archaic or restricted to specific registers.

Usage and scope

Kehtivatena appears most often in official documents, legislative drafts, legal translations, or linguistic discussions about Finnish morphology. It functions to express that a given provision, document, or rule is stated to be valid or in effect at the time described. In everyday Finnish, simpler expressions such as “voima” or “in force” are far more common, while kehtivatena remains a technical option for precise formal description.

See also

Voima, voimassa, kehtiva, essive case (linguistics).

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