lieviää

Lieviä is the partitive plural form of the Finnish adjective lievä, meaning mild, moderate, or gentle. It is used to describe non-severe states or conditions and typically accompanies a noun in the partitive case. The form reflects Finnish adjective inflection and is common in medical, legal, and everyday language when the speaker wants to indicate that something is not extreme.

Examples of usage include lieviä oireita (mild symptoms), lieviä kipuja (mild pains), lieviä sivuvaikutuksia (mild side effects), and lieviä rikkomuksia (mild violations). These constructions are frequently found in medical reports, news reporting, and ordinary conversation where the speaker aims to express a non-severe degree.

Grammatically, lieviä is not a standalone lexical item but an inflected form of lievä. The corresponding nominative plural is lievät. The form agrees with the noun it modifies in number and case; with a plural noun in the partitive, lieviä is used, for example, lieviä oireita.

In linguistic use, lieviä illustrates how Finnish adjectives convey degree through case and number inflection. It is particularly common in contexts where distinguishing between mild and more serious conditions is important, such as healthcare, regulatory language, and risk descriptions.