Velvoitteidensä

Velvoitteidensä is a Finnish grammatical form that denotes “their obligations” within a noun phrase. It is not a standalone lexical item but a complex inflected form built from velvoitteet, meaning obligations, combined with the third-person plural possessive suffix -idensä. The result functions as a genitive possessive phrase indicating that the obligations belong to a group previously referenced in the discourse.

Morphology and formation: The base plural noun velvoitteet carries the plural meaning. The possessive suffix -idensä marks the possessor as they/them (their), producing velvoitteidensä. This construction is characteristic of Finnish possessive suffixation in plural possessor contexts and is commonly found in formal or analytical writing where a plural subject is explicitly attributed ownership of the obligations.

Usage: Velvoitteidensä appears mainly in legal, political, or scholarly Finnish, where it helps to distinguish the obligations of a specific collective from those of other groups. It can be used with postpositions such as noudattamisesta (compliance with) or täytäntöönpanosta (enforcement of) to form phrases like velvoitteidensä noudattamisesta or velvoitteidensä täytäntöönpanosta. In everyday speech, speakers often use simpler constructions, but velvoitteidensä remains correct and clear in precise, formal contexts.

Examples:

- Kysymys velvoitteidensä noudattamisesta nousi esiin käytännön kiistassa. (The question of their obligations' compliance arose in the practical dispute.)

- Hallituksen raportti käsittelee velvoitteidensä täytäntöönpanon tasapainoa. (The government report deals with the balance of the enforcement of their obligations.)

See also: velvoitteet, velvollisuus, kielioppi.