kattoista

Kattoista is a Finnish grammatical form, not a separate concept or proper noun. It is the elative plural form of the noun katto, which means roof. In Finnish, the elative case expresses origin or source, and the plural elative ending is -ista or -istä. Therefore kattoista translates roughly to “from the roofs” in English.

Usage and meaning

Kattoista is used when referring to something that originates from multiple roofs. It answers questions such as “from where?” in a plural sense. For example, kattoista vettä ropisee would mean water dripping from the roofs. The singular counterpart is katosta, meaning “from the roof.” The form kattoista interacts with the surrounding words according to Finnish sentence structure and requires appropriate case endings for the related noun phrases.

Grammatical notes

Kattoista follows the standard Finnic pattern of the elative plural endings (-ista/-istä). As with other elative forms, the choice between -ista and -istä depends on vowel harmony and the phonology of the root. In practice, kattoista appears primarily in descriptive or narrative contexts where multiple roofs are the source being referenced.

Relation to other forms

Beyond kattoista, related forms include katto (roof, nominative), katosta (from the roof, singular elative), and kattojen (roofs, plural genitive). Kattoista is thus part of the broader inflection system used for indicating source or origin in Finnish, rather than a standalone lexical entry.

Overview

Kattoista serves as a specific grammatical inflection indicating origin from multiple roofs. It illustrates how Finnish uses case endings to convey source relations and number, without altering the fundamental meaning of katto.