Pitkät

Pitkät is the plural nominative and accusative form of the Finnish adjective pitkä, meaning long. It is used to describe plural nouns and agrees with the noun in number and case. In Finnish, adjectives typically come before the noun and inflect to match the noun.

Morphology and forms: The basic form is pitkä (singular). The plural nominative and accusative form is pitkät. Other common forms include genitive singular pitkän, genitive plural pitkien, partitive singular pitkää and partitive plural pitkiä. The stem of the adjective is pitk-.

Usage: Pitkät describes length or extent when used with plural nouns. Examples include pitkät hiukset (long hair, referring to multiple hairs), pitkät matkat (long journeys), and pitkät vuodet (long years). It can also express duration in time, as in Hän asui siellä pitkiä aikoja (She lived there for long times). In time expressions the partitive form pitkiä aikoja is common, depending on the grammatical role in the sentence.

Semantics and nuance: The form pitkät often emphasizes the extent or duration relative to reference points, rather than merely a qualitative assessment of length. It is interchangeable with other adjectival forms when the context clearly signals plurality and the appropriate case.

Related terms: The base adjective is pitkä. Comparatives and superlatives include pidempi (longer) and pisin (longest). Finnish adjectives, including pitkät, decline for number and case to agree with the noun they modify.