Yleisinä

Yleisinä is the plural essive form of the Finnish adjective yleinen, meaning general or common. In Finnish grammar, the essive case marks a temporary state or role, and the plural essive is formed with the suffix -ina/-inä. When applied to an adjective, yleisinä is used with a plural noun in the essive to express “as the general ones” or “in the general sense.”

The form is most commonly encountered in descriptive or encyclopedic style, where something is described in its role or state. It often appears in phrases such as “pidetään yleisinä esimerkkeinä,” meaning that something is regarded as general or typical examples, rather than as a universal rule. The singular counterpart is yleisenä (in the general sense, as a general example), while the related essive forms for other nouns follow the same pattern.

Usage notes and related forms: yleisinä should agree in number and case with the noun it modifies, and it is distinguished from other case forms like the partitive or genitive. It is also distinct from the superlative form yleisin (the most common) and from the partitive yleisiä (general, in a partitive context). In language use, yleisinä tends to appear in formal or analytical contexts where a classification or description of roles and generalities is intended.