lehtien

Lehtien is the genitive plural form of the Finnish noun lehti, a word with two main meanings: leaf, the flat part of a plant, and newspaper, a periodical publication. Lehtien is used to indicate possession or association with multiple leaves or multiple newspapers, with the exact sense determined by context.

In Finnish grammar, lehti is the singular form; the plural nominative is lehdet. The genitive plural is lehtien, which expresses possession or association in phrases like puun lehtien väri (the color of the tree’s leaves) or sanomalehtien toimitus (the editorial offices of the newspapers). The form is standard for both senses of lehti, so lehtien can refer to leaves or to newspapers in plural.

Usage notes: Lehtien is a plural genitive form and cannot be used for singular references. For a single leaf or a single newspaper, the genitive singular is lehden. Finnish nouns change case to indicate grammar relationships, and lehtien is one of the common forms used with plural noun phrases, especially in written and formal language. In everyday Finnish, lehti without suffixes can also refer to a newspaper, while lehteä is the partitive form used in different constructions.

See also: related forms include lehden (genitive singular of lehti) and lehdet (nominative plural), as well as compound terms involving sanomalehti (newspaper) and puu (tree) when discussing leaves in different contexts.