kipeältä

Kipeältä is the ablative singular form of the Finnish adjective kipeä, meaning sick or ill. In practical use, kipeältä functions as a predicative descriptor that conveys appearance or sensation, rather than a statement about location or permanent state. The meaning is often close to “looking sick” or “feeling unwell.”

Common usage and examples

The form appears with verbs that describe perception or appearance. For example, näytät kipeältä means “you look sick,” and kurkku tuntuu kipeältä means “my throat feels sore.” Another example is hän näytti kipeältä eilen, “he looked sick yesterday.” In these contexts kipeältä characterizes how someone seems or feels, rather than asserting a medical diagnosis.

Grammatical note

Kipeältä is formed by adding the ablative suffix -ltä to kipeä. This is distinct from kipeällä, the adessive form meaning “on/at a sick person or condition” in other constructions. The base meaning remains tied to sickness, but kipeältä in the predicative sense emphasizes appearance or sensation rather than a straightforward statement like “I am sick,” which would be olen kipeä.

Usage considerations

Kipeältä is most natural in conversational Finnish describing temporary states such as illness or discomfort. It is less common to use kipeältä to describe persistent conditions or to refer to a diagnosed illness; for those meanings, kipeä or medical terms are typically used directly.