ihmisiä

Ihmisiä is a Finnish noun form that functions as the partitive plural of ihminen, meaning "human" or "person." It is used to refer to people in non-definite quantities or in contexts where the action involves an indefinite object. The partitive plural is used after verbs of perception or experience and in negation or expressions of quantity.

In Finnish, nouns decline by number and case. The standard plural nominative of ihminen is ihmiset, while the partitive plural is ihmisiä. The form ihmisiä signals indefiniteness or incompleteness: e.g., Näen ihmisiä puistossa (I see people in the park). Haluaisin tavata lisää ihmisiä (I would like to meet more people). The form changes with other cases as well: en nähnyt ihmisiä (I did not see any people) uses the partitive due to negation.

Note: If the group is definite or specific, another form is used, such as nämä ihmiset "these people" in the nominative plural, or other case endings depending on sentence structure.

Etymology: ihminen is a native Finnish noun; the exact historical origin is unclear, but it is considered part of the Finnic language stock rather than borrowed. The word ihminen and its partitive plural ihmisiä are standard elements of everyday Finnish.