Tärkeämpää

Tärkeämpää is the Finnish comparative form of tärkeä, meaning “more important.” It is used to express a higher level of importance relative to something else or to a given standard and is a common way to make comparisons in Finnish.

In practice, tärkeämpää appears in clauses comparing two or more elements. A typical construction is X on tärkeämpää kuin Y, meaning “X is more important than Y.” It can also function as a predicative complement after the verb olla, as in Terveys on tärkeämpää nyt, meaning “Health is more important now.”

Morphology and usage notes: tärkeämpää is the partitive singular form of the comparative adjective. Like other degree forms in Finnish, its exact ending agrees with the surrounding grammatical context (case, number, and predicative use). The corresponding positive form is tärkeä, and the superlative form is tärkein, meaning “the most important.”

Etymology and relation to other terms: tärkeämpää is derived from the root tärkeä (important) with the standard Finnish comparative suffix. The word is commonly used in everyday language as well as formal writing to weight the importance of factors, decisions, or actions relative to alternatives or standards.

See also: the superlative form tärkein for “the most important” and related expressions such as merkittävä (significant) and suurin painoarvo (greatest importance) in specific contexts.