Myöntävä

Myöntävä is a Finnish adjective meaning affirmative or approving. It is formed from the verb myöntää, which means to admit, grant, or acknowledge, with the suffix -vä to indicate a characteristic. In everyday use, myöntävä describes statements, responses, or utterances that express agreement, confirmation, or acceptance, as opposed to kielteinen, which denotes negation.

In linguistic and educational contexts, myöntävä is used to classify sentence polarity. A myöntävä lause expresses affirmation, such as "Hän tulee" (He/She is coming), while a kielteinen lause expresses negation, such as "Hän ei tule" (He/She is not coming). The adverbial form myöntävästi is used to describe how something is stated, for example, "Hän vastasi myöntävästi" (He/She answered affirmatively). Noun phrases include myöntävä vastaus (an affirmative answer) and myöntävä lausunto (an approving/affirming statement).

Etymologically, myöntävä comes from the verb myöntää and the -vä suffix, which forms adjectives describing a quality or tendency. In Finnish usage, myöntävä is closely tied to the concept of polarity in statements, and is commonly contrasted with kielteinen (negative). While myöntävä and myönteinen both translate broadly as positive, myöntävä specifically emphasizes confirmation or acknowledgment rather than a general favorable attitude. In discourse analysis and language teaching, the pair (myöntävä, kielteinen) helps describe how speakers express affirmation or negation.