kissoista

Kissoista is the elative plural form of the Finnish noun kissa, meaning cats. The elative case expresses origin or source, and the -ista suffix in plural forms is used to indicate “from the cats.” In Finnish, kissoista is also commonly used to mark the topic or subject matter of a statement, especially with verbs of communication or information exchange, where the phrase can be translated as “about cats” or “concerning cats,” depending on the context.

Usage and examples

Kerro kissoista. (Tell me about cats.)

Olen lukenut artikkelin kissoista. (I have read an article about cats.)

Kissoista on paljon tietoa verkossa. (There is a lot of information about cats online.)

In these examples kissoista functions as the object of verbs such as puhua, kertoa, or lukea, signaling the topic or content rather than a physical source.

Notes

As with other elative plural forms, kissoista requires attention to sentence structure and verb selection to convey the intended meaning—origin (“from the cats”) versus topic or subject matter (“about cats”). In everyday Finnish, the choice between kissoista and other cases or constructions depends on what nuance a speaker wishes to express and the verbs used.

See also

Finnish grammar, elative case, noun declension.