määräiseen

Määräiseen is a Finnish grammatical form of the adjective määräinen, which means definite or specific. It is not a separate word but a case-inflected form used when the adjacent noun is in the illative case. In Finnish, adjectives decline to agree with the nouns they modify in number and case, so -inen adjectives like määräinen have a dedicated illative singular form, here written as määräiseen.

Use and meaning. The function of määräiseen is to indicate definiteness or specification of the noun within the illative phrase. This can occur in formal or linguistic contexts, or in constructions that emphasize a definite referent within a movement or direction, such as into a definite form or into a definite expression. It is part of the broader concept of definiteness in Finnish grammar, where determiners and demonstratives often supplement or replace explicit articles.

Relation to other forms. Määräinen has other inflected forms for different cases and numbers, and each of these forms follows the same pattern as other adjectives ending in -inen. The illative form is used when the noun phrase is in the illative case, for example when describing movement toward or into something that is definite. The word diminishes to its base meaning of “definite/ determinate” across its inflections.

Etymology and status. The form derives from määrä (“amount, quantity”) plus the adjectival suffix -inen. In everyday Finnish, grammatical definiteness is frequently expressed with demonstratives, possessives, or noun phrases rather than solely by adjective inflection, so mutta määräinen is more common in linguistic description or formal writing than in everyday speech.

See also. Finnish grammar of adjectives, illative case, definiteness in Finnish, epämääräinen (indefinite).