Osittavan

Osittavan is a Finnish grammatical form. It is the genitive singular form of the present active participle osittava, which comes from the verb osoittaa meaning “to indicate” or “to show.” Like other -va/-vä participles in Finnish, osittava functions as an adjective and can modify a noun.

Usage and function

Osittavan is used to describe a noun by indicating that the noun possesses or performs a indicating or showing action. The form appears when the dependent noun phrase is in a case that requires genitive marking, typically in noun phrases that express possession, association, or modification. Examples include phrases such as osittavan toiminnan vaikutus (“the impact of the indicating activity”) or osittavan tiedon luotettavuus (“the reliability of the indicating information”). In these constructions, osittavan agrees with the gender and number of the head noun and participates in the overall inflection of the phrase.

Relation to other participles

Osittavan belongs to the class of present active participles formed with the suffix -va/-vä. These participles function as adjectives in Finnish and can be declined to match case, number, and definiteness of the noun they modify. The exact form changes with different grammatical cases, while retaining the core meaning “indicating/showing.”

Notes

While common in written Finnish and linguistic descriptions, participial phrases like osittavan toiminnan are more specialized and may be found in academic, legal, or formal texts. In everyday language, speakers may opt for simpler constructions to convey similar meanings.

See also: Finnish grammar, participles, osoittaa.