kannustaneet

Kannustaneet is a Finnish linguistic form derived from the verb kannustaa, meaning to encourage, motivate, or spur. It is the plural past active participle of kannustaa and is used to describe people or groups who have encouraged others. In practice, kannustaneet functions mainly as an attributive participle that attaches to a noun to identify its agent of encouragement, for example kannustaneet opettajat meaning “the teachers who have encouraged.”

The corresponding singular form is kannustanut, which functions as the singular past active participle—used in phrases like “kannustanut opettaja” to refer to an individual who has encouraged, though more common in everyday language is to use a relative clause (opettaja, joka on kannustanut …).

Kannustaneet can also be used in a more nominal sense to refer to a group of encouragers, but in ordinary Finnish it is typically complemented by a noun following it and interpreted within a clause that specifies who did the encouraging.

Etymology: the word is built from kannustaa plus the participial suffix -neet, indicating plural past active participles.

Usage notes: Kannustaneet appears most often in formal or written Finnish, such as academic writing, policy documents, and journalism, where it is useful to identify actors who provided motivation or encouragement. It is not usually used as a standalone noun; rather, it forms part of a larger noun phrase or clause describing who performed the encouraging.

See also: kannustaa, kannustus, kannustaminen.