Lausejäsemeid

Lausejäsemeid is a Finnish linguistic term for the parts that make up a clause. In grammar, a lausejäsen (sentence member) is any element that fulfills a syntactic function within a sentence. The concept includes core components such as the subject and the predicate, as well as peripheral ones such as direct and indirect objects, time, place, and manner adverbials, complements, and attribute phrases.

Core sentence members include the subject, which denotes who or what performs the action, and the predicate, which is the finite verb and its related auxiliaries that express tense, mood, and voice. Objects receive the action, with direct objects most often realized in object position and marked by case endings; indirect objects indicate beneficiaries or recipients. Adverbials modify the action or event, indicating time, place, manner, degree, or cause. Predicative adjectives and noun phrases can also function as lausejäsen, describing or categorizing the subject or object.

Finnish grammar relies on extensive case marking, so the same sentence can be arranged in different orders with the endings conveying the roles. A typical neutral order is subject–predicate–object, but Finnish allows flexibility to emphasize a focus element or topic. In addition, lausejäsemeid can be expanded by subordinate clauses or complement clauses that themselves contain their own sentence members.

This concept is central to syntax analysis, language teaching, and corpus linguistics, providing a framework to identify how each element contributes to the meaning and structure of a sentence.