kasvattama

Kasvattama is a Finnish word that stems from the verb kasvattaa, meaning to raise, grow, or educate. The -ma suffix nominalizes the verb, so kasvattama can be understood as roughly “the act of raising” or, in some contexts, as a participial form used attributively.

In modern standard Finnish, the most common nominalizations related to this meaning are kasvatus (upbringing, education) and kasvattaminen (the act of raising or cultivating). The form kasvattama is relatively rare and is not a primary entry in most contemporary dictionaries. It tends to appear in grammars or in older or more formal texts as a participial form that serves specific syntactic roles rather than as a general-purpose noun.

Because of its rarity, native speakers typically prefer rephrasing with more common forms to convey related ideas. For example, discussions about a person who educates or raises others are usually expressed with kasvvattaja (the person who raises) or with kasvatus-based expressions, rather than with kasvattama as a standalone noun.

Context and study: Kasvattama can be encountered in linguistic discussions about Finnish verb-derived nouns and participles, particularly in analyses of the morphological patterns of the -ma form. Its usage illustrates how Finnish forms can move between verb, participle, and noun functions, depending on context and register.

See also: Kasvatus, Kasvattaja, Kasvattaa, Kasvatettu.