Puhaltavaa

Puhaltavaa is the partitive singular form of the present active participle puhaltava in Finnish. The present active participle is formed from the verb puhaltua or puhaltaa (to blow, to emit air) with the suffix -va/-vä, and it functions as an adjective describing ongoing action or a state related to blowing or emitting air. The form puhaltavaa is used when the modified noun is in the partitive case, often indicating an indefinite amount or kind of air or wind.

In practice, puhaltava (the base form) describes something that is blowing or capable of blowing. The participle behaves like an adjective and agrees with the noun in case and number. The partitive form puhaltavaa is one of several inflected forms; other forms include puhaltava (nominative singular), puhaltavan (genitive singular), and puhaltavien (plural forms). This morphology allows the participle to function both attributively (puhaltavaa ilmaa) and predicatively in a sentence, though predicative use is less common in everyday language.

Usage notes: puhaltavaa is typically used to describe physical processes related to air movement, such as wind, fans, or ventilation, as well as more figurative “blowing” descriptions. It often appears in technical or descriptive writing, where the emphasis is on the ongoing action of blowing rather than on a completed event. The form is closed to a straightforward translation as “blowing” or “blowing air,” depending on context.

Examples: puhaltavaa ilmaa (blowing air), puhaltavaa tuulta (blowing wind). See also puhaltava, the base present active participle, and related participial forms used in Finnish grammar.