Lasten

Lasten is the genitive plural form of lapsi in Finnish, meaning “the children” or “of the children.” It functions primarily to indicate possession or a relational link to children in ordinary sentences, for example lasten lelut (the children’s toys), lasten oikeudet (children’s rights), or niin lasten kanssa (with the children).

Beyond its role as a grammatical case, lasten also serves as a productive stem in compound words that denote things related to or intended for children. In such compounds the form lasten- appears before a noun and remains a fixed modifier, for instance lastenkoti (a children’s home), lastenkirja (a children’s book), lastenvaatteet (children’s clothes), and lastenkirjat (children’s books). This use is common in everyday Finnish and forms part of standard vocabulary for education, welfare, and childcare contexts.

In practice, lasten is most commonly seen in possessive constructions and in compound nouns. It is not declined when used as a prefix in compounds, and its meaning is unambiguously linked to children. The distinction between lasten (genitive plural) and lapsen (genitive singular) is important for proper grammar, as lapsen would mean “of the child” and is used for singular possession.

Overall, lasten is a versatile element in Finnish, signaling a relationship to children whether in a simple phrase or in a wider family of compound terms used across everyday speech and writing. See also lapsi for the base noun, lapsen for the singular genitive, and related compounds formed with lasten- as a prefix.