Ystävä

Ystävä is a Finnish noun meaning “friend.” It denotes a person with whom one has a close, trusting relationship and is commonly used for both genders. The term is neutral in tone and can refer to a range of bonds, from long-standing intimate friends to reliable companions. In everyday speech, speakers might use kaveri for a more casual sense of friend, but ystävä typically implies a stronger or more established connection.

Etymology and related forms: Ystävä is a native Finnish word. It is the root of related terms such as ystävyys (friendship) and ystävällinen (friendly). The word declines like other Finnish -vä nouns, with singular forms including nominative ystävä, genitive ystävän, and partitive ystävää; and plural forms such as nominative ystävät, genitive ystävien, and partitive ystäviä. Usage follows standard Finnish patterns for noun inflection across cases.

Usage and nuance: Possession is expressed with standard possessive forms, for example ystäväni (my friend), ystäväsi (your friend), hänen ystävänsä (his/her friend). Ystävä conveys a sense of personal closeness and loyalty, and is common in both spoken language and literary contexts. It can denote a single close friend or a group of close friends when used in context, while more casual or informal connections are often described with terms like kaveri or tuttava.

See also: Ystävyys, meaning friendship, and ystävällinen, meaning friendly. The word illustrates how Finnish uses related forms to express social relationships and qualities stemming from the core concept of a friend.