Puuttuukin

Puuttuukin is a Finnish verb form derived from the verb puuttua, meaning to be missing or to lack. The form combines the present tense verb puuttuu with the enclitic emphasis particle -kin, producing puuttuukin. This construction is used to strengthen or contrast the assertion that something is missing, often in response to an expectation or prior statement.

In its grammatical use, puuttuukin is the finite third-person singular form and is most common in spoken Finnish, but it also appears in written language, especially in dialogue or opinionated passages. The -kin particle adds nuance: it signals certainty, contrast, or correction, as if saying “it is missing after all” or “surprisingly, it is missing.” The exact meaning depends on context and intonation.

The practical effect of using puuttuukin is to heighten the perceived absence of a noun understood from context. It can convey surprise, insistence, or a corrective tone. Because of its emphatic character, puuttuukin tends to appear more in informal speech, editorial writing, or literary prose than in formal technical writing.

See also: puuttua, the standard present form puuttuu, and the broader use of the particle -kin in Finnish to add emphasis or contrast. Examples are typically small and rely on a known subject within the discourse: for instance, varmuuskopio puuttuu, puuttuukin, meaning that the backup is missing after all.