epämääräistä

Epämääräistä is the partitive singular form of the Finnish adjective epämääräinen, meaning indefinite or imprecise. The word is formed from the negative prefix epä- attached to määräinen (defined, definite). Epämääräinen describes something that is not precisely defined, known, or quantifiable. In Finnish grammar, epämääräinen is used to express vagueness or lack of specificity about a noun.

Epämääräistä is used when the noun it modifies is in the partitive case, typically with uncountable or indefinite quantities. It can describe both abstract concepts and mass nouns, as well as quantities whose exact amount is unknown or not important in the context. For example, epämääräistä rahaa means some indefinite money, epämääräistä tietoa means some indefinite information, and epämääräistä aikaa means some indeterminate time. The corresponding forms exist for other cases and numbers, such as epämääräisiä in the partitive plural.

In usage, epämääräistä conveys vagueness more strongly than equivalents like "jotakin" (some) or "minkäänlaista" (any kind of). It is common in everyday Finnish and in written prose to indicate that a quantity or quality is not precisely defined. The related noun epämääräisyys denotes indefiniteness or vagueness as a concept. The form epämääräistä is one of several inflected forms of epämääräinen used to express indefiniteness in different grammatical contexts.