essiivimuotoa

Essiivimuoto, or essive, is a grammatical case in Finnish that marks a temporary state, role, or condition. It is commonly translated as “as” or “in the capacity of” in English, and it often appears with the verb olla to describe someone’s current function or status.

Formation and usage. The essive has two basic forms for a noun’s singular and plural: singular ending -na/-nä, and plural ending -ina/-inä. The exact vowels of the ending follow Finnish vowel harmony and the stem’s characteristics. Examples in the singular include opettaja -> opettajana (as a teacher), nainen -> naisena (as a woman), opiskelija -> opiskelijana (as a student). In the plural, the ending is -ina/-inä, as in opettaja -> opettajina (as teachers). The essive is most commonly used with the verb olla, as in Hän on opettajana (She is/He is a teacher).

Meaning and scope. The essive expresses a temporary state or role rather than a permanent attribute. It can indicate what someone is at a given time, what capacity they hold, or a representative state during a period. It is distinct from related cases: inessive (in, inside a place), translative (to become, or into a state), and other cases that describe location or transformation with different nuances.

Notes. The essive often appears in descriptive or biographical statements and in phrases that specify someone’s current function. It is not used to express permanent characteristics; for permanent properties Finnish typically uses other constructions or the adjective/nominative.

Related forms. While the essive covers “as/being as,” the translative -ksi marks becoming or transformation (e.g., opettajaksi), and the inessive marks location (e.g., koulussa).