Vakavimmissa

Vakavimmissa is a Finnish grammatical form that serves as the inessive plural of the superlative adjective vakavin, meaning “the gravest” or “most serious.” It is used to describe plural nouns in the inessive case, typically within phrases such as vakavimmissa tilanteissa, meaning “in the gravest situations.”

Formation and usage

In Finnish, adjectives change to express degree with the superlative suffix -in, producing vakavin (“the gravest”). The inessive plural ending -issa/-issä attaches to the adjective in phrases referring to location or state, yielding vakavimmissa. The term functions within noun phrases rather than as a standalone word and is commonly found in formal or written Finnish, especially in discussions about crises, ethics, or policy.

Examples

- Päätökset on tehtävä vakavimmissa tilanteissa. (Decisions must be made in the gravest situations.)

- Viranomaisten on toimittava vakavimmissa tapauksissa. (Authorities must act in the gravest cases.)

Notes

Vakavimmissa is not a common everyday standalone adjective; it is a morphological form used within broader sentences to emphasize severity. It reflects Finnish’s rich system of degree and case agreement, where adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in number and case through inflection.

See also

Finnish grammar, adjectives, degrees of comparison.