Tähtäävien

Tähtäävien is a Finnish grammatical form that functions as the genitive plural of the present active participle tähtäävä, derived from the verb tähdätä or tähtää (to aim, to intend, or to be directed at). In Finnish, present active participles formed with the suffix -va/-vä behave like adjectives and can modify nouns or appear in noun phrases. The genitive plural ending -ien yields tähtäävien when the participle is in a genitive plural position.

Usage and meaning: Tähtäävien describes people or things characterized by aiming or intending, and it is most often found in literary or formal writing. It can express ownership or association with those who aim, or it can modify a plural noun in a way akin to “of those who aim/aiming groups.” The exact interpretation depends on context and the surrounding grammar. It commonly appears in constructions like tähtäävien tavoitteiden asettaminen, which can be translated roughly as “the setting of goals by those who aim” or, more freely, “the goals pursued by those aiming at them.”

Frequency and register: Tähtäävien is relatively formal and more likely to appear in academic, policy, or literary Finnish than in everyday speech. In common spoken language, a simpler relative clause or a different expression might be preferred (for example, jotkut, jotka tähtäävät johonkin, or tavoitteisiin tähtäävät ryhmät).

Related forms: The base participle tähtäävä (present active participle) and related forms such as tähtäävä's inflections, tähtäys (targeting/aim), and the verb tähdätä or tähtää, from which these participial forms are derived.

See also: Finnish grammar, participles in Finnish, -va/-vä suffix, genitive case in Finnish.