erottelemme

Erottelemme is the present tense, first-person plural form of the Finnish verb erottaa. In Finnish, erottaa means to separate, distinguish, or differentiate, and erottelemme expresses “we separate” or “we differentiate” depending on the context. The sense can be physical (separating objects) or abstract (distinguishing concepts).

Morphology and usage: It is formed from the verb stem erott- plus the present tense ending -lemme, which marks the 1st person plural, yielding erottelemme. The form is used in ordinary and formal Finnish to describe the act of differentiating between items, categories, or ideas, or sorting them into groups.

Examples: “Me erottelemme nämä kaksi vaihtoehtoa toisistaan” (We differentiate these two options from one another). “Käytännössä erottelemme eläimet ja kasvit erilaisiin ryhmiin” (In practice, we separate animals and plants into different groups).

Related terms: ero (difference or separation), erottelu (the act of distinguishing or separating), erotus (separation or divorce). The relationship among these terms reflects Finnish morphology, where erott- forms a stem for different meanings.

Notes: As a finite verb, erottelemme appears primarily in declarative statements about classification, analysis, or sorting; its exact nuance depends on context, including whether the emphasis is on physical separation or conceptual differentiation.