Kielten

Kielten is the genitive plural form of the Finnish noun kieli, meaning language or tongue. It expresses possession or relation to more than one language and is typically translated into English as “of languages” or “languages’.” In Finnish, the genitive plural is used to modify another noun or to express abstract relationships between nouns.

In practice, kielten is found in phrases that indicate what belongs to or concerns multiple languages. For example, kielten oppiminen means “the learning of languages,” and kielten vaihtelu means “the variation among languages.” The form is part of Finnish’s wider system of suffix-based grammar, where endings mark case, number, and relationship rather than using prepositions in many cases.

Common considerations: kielten genitive plural is distinct from the singular genitive (kielen) and from the nominative plural (kielet). It appears whenever the speaker references something pertaining to several languages rather than to a single language. This flexibility supports nuanced expression about language families, linguistic studies, education, and cross-language phenomena.

See also: kieli (language), kielitiede (linguistics), kielioppi (grammar), genetiivi (genitive).