Lyhyimpiä

Lyhyimpiä is a Finnish adjective form meaning “the shortest” in the plural partitive. It is the partitive plural form of the superlative lyhyin, used to refer to multiple items that are the shortest within a group. The form is built from the stem of lyhyt with the superlative ending -in and the plural partitive suffix -iä. In ordinary usage, lyhyimpiä describes nouns that are among the shortest and whose reference is indefinite or non-specific, or when the statement concerns a subset of items being compared.

For example, ostin lyhyimpiä kirjoja. This sentence means “I bought the shortest books.” The form signals that among a larger set of books, the ones bought were the shortest.

Lyhyimpiä should be distinguished from lyhyimmät, the nominative plural superlative form used when the subject of the sentence is in the nominative case, as in Näin lyhyimmät edustajat — “I saw the shortest representatives.” This contrast illustrates how Finnish adjectives inflect for case and number, affecting which form of the superlative is appropriate in a given sentence.