määrittelevästä

Määrittelevästä is the elative singular form of the Finnish adjective/participial stem määrittelevä, which means defining or restrictive. The base form määrittelevä is itself a present active participle derived from the verb määritellä, meaning to define or specify. In grammar, määrittelevä describes something that defines or restricts a reference, often used of a clause or phrase that limits the referent.

In Finnish, adjectives and participles used attributively agree with the noun they modify in number and case. Therefore määrittelevä can take various endings, such as määrittelevä lause (nominative singular, “defining clause”) or kuin määrittelevästä lauseesta (elative singular, “from a defining clause”). The form määrittelevästä occurs when the noun being modified is in the elative case and the head noun is plural or singular in a specific context.

Usage and meaning: määrittelevä describes something that serves to delimit or identify the referent, as opposed to a non-defining or additional, descriptive clause. In linguistic terminology, it is closely connected to the notion of a restrictive clause, which provides essential information necessary to identify the referent, rather than supplementary information.

Examples:

- Syntaksissa määrittelevä lause määrittää, mikä referentti on kyseessä. Here the defining clause (“joka…”) restricts the referent.

- Määrittelevästä lauseesta käy ilmi, mikä koira on kyseessä. This demonstrates the elative form in a contextual phrase.

See also: Finnish grammar, participles, elative case, restrictive clause.