Selviytyvä

Selviytyvää is the partitive singular form of the present active participle selviytyvä, which comes from the verb selviytyä meaning to survive, endure, or manage. As a participle, selviytyvä functions as an adjective describing someone or something that is in the act of surviving or is characterized by resilience. The form selviytyvää is used when the modified noun is in the partitive case, or in constructions that require the partitive, for example after negation or with indefinite quantities.

In standard Finnish, present participles inflect to agree with the noun in number and case. For example: selviytyvä mies (a surviving man), selviytyvää miestä (a surviving man in partitive), selviytyvää rohkeutta (surviving/tenacious courage in partitive). The participle can also function in phrases where the noun is stressed or indefinite, producing forms like selviytyvää tarinaa in appropriate syntactic contexts.

Common contexts for selviytyvää include reporting on people in danger or disaster, descriptions of communities or wildlife that endure harsh conditions, and metaphorical uses that emphasize resilience. In everyday language, the noun selviytyminen more directly denotes the act of surviving, while selviytyvä/selviytyvää emphasizes an ongoing state or quality rather than the act itself.

See also: selviytyminen (survival), selviytyjä (survivor), selviytyvä (present active participle). Examples illustrate typical usage: “Selviytyvä mies kertoi tarinansa.” “Häntä pidetään selviytyvänä esimerkkinä rohkeudesta.”