Suurtahtiset

Suurtahtiset are the uppercase forms of letters used in the Finnish writing system. They represent the capital letters of the Latin alphabet and are applied in contexts such as the beginning of sentences, proper nouns, acronyms, and headings. In practice, suurtahtiset and pientahtiset (lowercase) are the same letter set, merely in their capital or small forms.

The Finnish alphabet consists of 29 letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Å, Ä, Ö. The uppercase forms follow the same order: A through Z, Å, Ä, Ö. The letters Ä and Ö are integral to Finnish phonology and appear in many common words, while Å is mainly encountered in Swedish loanwords and names.

Usage and style conventions in Finnish follow standard capitalization rules: the first letter of a sentence is capitalized, as are proper nouns, personal names, and official acronyms. All-caps usage is common in headings, signage, and some brands but is usually discouraged for long blocks of text because it can hinder readability and may come across as shouting.

In digital and typesetting contexts, converting text to suurtahtiset requires locale-aware case mapping. Unicode and modern font technologies provide uppercase mappings, including for letters with diacritics (such as Ä and Ö). Proper handling of case is important for accurate text processing in Finnish and other languages that use diacritics.