Paikastaan

Paikastaan is a Finnish form used to express origin from a location that belongs to or is associated with the subject. It is commonly translated as “from its place” and is used when describing movement away from a location or the current position of an object, animal, or person. The form typically occurs with inanimate objects as well as living beings when the location of the item is emphasized as belonging to the subject.

Etymology and form: paikastaan is built from the noun paikka (place) combined with the elative case ending sta (from) and a third-person possessive suffix -nsä/-nsä, indicating ownership by the subject. The result is a bound form that specifies origin from the subject’s own location. In usage, it often appears in sentence-final position or after the verb to describe where something is coming from.

Usage: Paikastaan is most common in contexts involving displacement or reference to a known position. Examples include:

- Kuva pysyy paikkastaan seinällä. (The picture stays in its place on the wall.)

- Esine putosi paikkastaan ja löytyi lattialta. (The object fell from its place and was found on the floor.)

Notes: Paikastaan is related to other location-based forms in Finnish, such as paikoillaan (in its place) or paikaltaan (from its position). It is used to convey the idea of “from the place that belongs to it,” and its exact nuance depends on context and the surrounding verbs.

See also: Finnish grammar, elative case, possessive suffixes, paikkasanat.