jäävän

Jäävän is a form in Finnish grammar derived from the verb jäädä, meaning to stay or remain. It is the genitive singular form of the present active participle jäävä, which denotes something that remains or is in a state of staying. In practice, jäävän is used to describe a noun that continues to exist after a change or event, functioning as an attributive adjective or as part of a noun phrase.

As a participle, jäävä can modify both concrete and abstract nouns. The form jäävän specifically marks possession or association in the genitive singular, for example in phrases like jäävän talon ikkuna, “the window of the remaining house,” or jäävän kaupungin rakennukset, “the buildings of the city that remain.” In literary or formal Finnish, tämä construction helps express continuity or residual elements.

Usage notes and nuance: jäävän conveys a sense of continuation or persistence relative to another referent, such as after demolition, destruction, or transition. It is common in descriptive writing, reports about changes over time, or comparative contexts where one item is contrasted with what disappears.

Etymology and related forms: jäävä is formed from the verb jäädä with the participial suffix -vä, indicating “the one that stays.” Thegenitive singular ending aligns with Finnish participle inflection patterns, producing jäävän for masculine and feminine referents in the possessive-like construction. Related forms include nominative jäävä (the remaining one) and other cases of the same participle stem. See also jäädä and jäävä (present participle).