Puuttuvan

Puuttuvan is the genitive singular form of the Finnish adjective puuttuva, meaning missing or absent. Puuttuva describes something that is not present, lacking, or presumed to be so. In Finnish, adjectives decline to agree with the noun they modify, and puuttuvan is used when the modified noun is in genitive. For example, puuttuvan kirjan sivut can be translated as “the pages of the missing book.” The form is part of the broader inflectional paradigm of puuttuva, which includes other cases such as puuttuva, puuttuvaa, puuttuvassa, and so on.

Etymology and morphology: puuttuva derives from the verb puuttua, meaning “to be missing” or “to be lacking,” with the attributive suffix -va/-vä forming an adjective. The genitive singular form puuttuvan occurs to agree with a following genitive noun (for instance, puuttuvan talon as part of a larger noun phrase).

Usage: Puuttuvan is chiefly encountered in descriptive or formal contexts where the speaker refers to something that is not present or is believed to be missing. It is common in written Finnish, including reports and literary descriptions, where it helps to specify possession or relation to the missing item. It is often contrasted with puuttuvuus, a noun meaning “absence” or “lacking.”

See also: puuttuva, puuttua, puuttuvuus.