Kosteaa

Kosteaa is the partitive form of the Finnish adjective kostea, which means moist or damp. It is used to describe the level of moisture in air, surfaces, or materials in predicative constructions, and appears frequently in weather-related language and environmental descriptions.

In everyday Finnish, the attributive form before a noun is kostea, as in kostea ilma (moist air). The form kosteaa is typically used after a verb such as olla (to be) in predicative clauses, for example: Ilma on kosteaa (The air is moist). The distinction between the attributive kostea and the predicative kosteaa reflects Finnish grammar rules for adjectives and case endings in different syntactic positions.

Etymology and grammar: kosteaa is derived from kostea by adding the partitive suffix -a, which is common for adjectives when forming certain predicative or indefinite expressions. This pattern is part of standard Finnish adjective inflection, where form changes depend on syntactic role and case.

Usage: Kosteaa is most common in contexts describing weather, humidity, or damp conditions. It can describe air, surfaces, soil, or other materials when moisture is a notable characteristic. Writers often choose kosteaa to convey a sense of ongoing dampness or indeterminate quantity of moisture, whereas kostea before a noun emphasizes a straightforward, fixed property of the noun.

See also: Finnish grammar, Finnish adjectives, Partitive case, Weather terminology in Finnish.

Notes: Kosteaa is a linguistic entry rather than a separate concept or entity; its relevance is primarily to Finnish language usage and syntax in descriptions of moisture.