esseive

The esseive, sometimes spelled esseive or described as the essive, is a grammatical case used in a small number of languages to mark a temporary state, role, or identity. It expresses the sense of “as” or “in the capacity of” and is often used to describe someone’s current occupation, role, or state of being during a period.

In Finnish, the esseive is a well-established form. It is typically realized with suffixes such as -na/-nä for singular (and -ina/-inä for plural) and is used with nouns after certain verbs to indicate a temporary state or role. A common construction is olla plus the esseive form, meaning “to be in the role of” or “to act as.” Examples include opettajana (as a teacher) or Hän toimii opettajana (He acts as a teacher). The esseive contrasts with other cases in Finnish, such as the translative (-ksi) which can express change of state, and with the inessive (-ssa/-ssä) which marks a static “being in” location.

Beyond Finnish, the esseive appears in a limited set of related languages and grammars, where its exact formation and use can differ. In those contexts, the function remains closely tied to temporary states or roles, though not all languages with similar ideas employ a dedicated esseive suffix exactly as Finnish does. In general, the esseive is considered a cross-linguistic device for expressing “as …” in a present or momentary sense rather than a permanent identity.

Historically, the term is used in linguistic descriptions to categorize this particular state-marking function. It is most prominent in Finno-Ugric language studies and is less common as a productive category in other language families.