Lievät

Lievät is the nominative plural form of the Finnish adjective lievä, meaning mild, gentle, or lenient. It is used when the adjective describes a plural noun in an attributive position, for example lievät oireet (mild symptoms) or lievät rajoitukset (lenient restrictions). The corresponding singular forms are lievä (nominative singular) and lievää (partitive singular). In predicative use after a copula like ovat (are), the adjective typically takes a partitive plural form, as in oireet ovat lieviä (the symptoms are mild).

Grammatical role and usage: As with other Finnish adjectives, lievä agrees with the noun in number and case. Lievät is the plural nominative form used directly before a noun, while other plural forms such as lieviä are used with the predicative complement after the verb, and in various cases according to Finnish inflection rules. In practice, lievät commonly describes relatively mild or moderate conditions, degrees of severity, or leniency in policies or rules.

Significance: The concept covered by lievä and its inflected forms is often found across many registers, including medicine (mild illness), law and governance (mild or lenient regulations), and everyday discourse. It also forms the basis for related terms such as lievyys (mildness) and the adverb lievästi (mildly).

See also: lievä, lievyys, lievästi.