Muotoiselle

Muotoiselle is the allative singular form of the Finnish adjective muotoinen, meaning “in the form of” or “shaped like.” It is formed from the stem muoto-, the -inen adjective suffix, and the allative ending -lle. In practice, muotoiselle marks direction toward or target of the form in descriptive or technical contexts.

In Finnish, muotoinen and its inflected forms describe the shape or form of something. The allative case, indicated by -lle, answers questions such as “to what form?” or “for which form?” Thus muotoiselle corresponds to “to/for the form.” Other case forms of muotoinen include muotoisen (genitive), muotoiseen (illative), muotoisella (adessive), and muotoisesti or muotoisesta (elative and related forms), each serving different grammatical functions.

Usage of muotoiselle is relatively specialized. It tends to appear in technical, descriptive, or artisanal writing where the speaker explicitly references a particular form or shape as a target or recipient. In everyday Finnish, speakers more often use expressions such as muodon mukaan (“according to the form”) or muotoon/muodossa (“into the form” or “in the form”) depending on the precise meaning.

Etymologically, muotoiselle derives from muoto, meaning form or shape, combined with muotoinen and the locative -lle. It illustrates how Finnish adjectives and case endings interact to convey nuanced spatial or directional relations.

See also: Finnish grammar, allative case, adjectives in Finnish.