Merkitsemää

Merkitsemää is a Finnish participial form derived from the verb merkitä, meaning to mark or designate. In linguistic terms, it functions as a non-finite relative form that can modify a noun to indicate that the noun has been marked or designated in a particular way. The form is most often encountered in formal, written Finnish, such as legal or technical texts, and is less common in everyday speech.

Usage and morphology

Merkitsemää typically appears in noun phrases, where it describes the noun as having undergone a marking action. The construction is commonly seen in contexts that require emphasis on the result of marking, rather than the agent performing the marking. It is used in partitive or genitive syntactic environments, depending on surrounding structure, and can be understood as “the [noun] that has been marked/designated.”

Examples

- Kartassa on merkitsemää nimeä kantava alue, joka on suojeltu. (The area bearing the designated name on the map is protected.)

- Hakemukseen on liitetty merkitsemää rekisteröintitunnusta. (The application includes the designated registration number.)

Relationship to other forms

Merkitsemää is related to other participial forms of merkitä, such as merkitsevä (present active participle) and merkitty (past passive participle). It sits within Finnish noun phrase construction and is most recognizable in formal language, where precise designation matters.

See also

merkitä, merkitsemä, Finnish participles, noun phrase construction in Finnish.