Yleisenä

Yleisenä is a Finnish linguistic term referring to a predicative form of the adjective yleinen, used to express generality or general applicability in statements. In Finnish, yleisenä functions to signal that what is being described applies broadly, not just to a specific case.

The word is most common in formal or normative language such as policy texts, academic writing, and journalism. It typically accompanies nouns that denote principles, practices, or opinions, for example periaate, käytäntö, tapa, ohje, or mielipide. In usage, it often appears in constructions like yleisenä periaatteena or yleisenä käytäntönä, meaning “as a general principle” or “as a general practice.” An example sentence is: Yleisenä periaatteena voidaan pitää, että tiedonhaku tapahtuu sähköisesti. This translates roughly to “As a general principle, it can be regarded that information retrieval is done electronically.”

Morphologically, yleisenä is formed from yleinen with the suffix -nä (-na), which creates a predicative or adverbial function indicating role or status. It is typically placed in predicative position, usually with an implied or explicit copula.

Nuances and limitations: yleisenä does not refer to a single instance but to a broad, normative sense. It is complementary to adverbs like yleisesti (generally) and is most at home in discussions of norms, rules, and overarching tendencies rather than empirical specifics.

See also: yleinen, yleisesti, periaate, käytäntö.