Päämuodossa

Päämuoto, literally “the main form,” is a term used in Finnish linguistics to describe the form of a word that serves as its lemma or dictionary entry. The päämuoto is the form from which other inflected forms are derived, and it is the form most commonly cited in language descriptions and dictionaries.

For nouns, the päämuoto is typically the singular nominative form. For example, koira is the päämuoto of the noun “dog,” and from it one can form the genitive koiran, the partitive koiraa, and other cases. For adjectives, the päämuoto is the positive singular nominative, such as kaunis, which serves as the base for comparative and superlative forms. For verbs, the päämuoto is usually the present infinitive, such as tehdä (to do) or sanoa (to say), from which finite forms like teen, sanoit, teki, and other conjugations are derived.

The concept is central to lexicography and morphological analysis because it provides a stable reference point for identifying a word’s stem, part of speech, and inflection patterns. While the exact form labeled as päämuoto can vary by word class, the underlying idea remains the same: the main form acts as the canonical representation of the word in linguistic description.

In practice, many dictionaries and grammars explicitly indicate the päämuoto as the entry form, guiding learners and researchers in recognizing and inflecting the word correctly across contexts. The term is synonymous with what is often called the lemma in linguistic literature.