nominatiivimuotoinen

Nominatiivimuotoinen is a Finnish linguistic term that means “in the nominative form.” It is used to describe a word when it appears in the nominative case, which is typically the basic or dictionary form used for subjects and predicate complements in sentences.

In Finnish grammar, many word forms change for case, number, or other grammatical categories. The nominatiivimuotoinen form identifies the form of a word as it would appear in the nominative (the form most often listed as the lemma in dictionaries). For nouns and pronouns, this is usually their nominative singular or the uninflected lemma form. For adjectives and numerals, nominatiivimuotoinen refers to the form that agrees with a noun in a given nominative context (for example, singular nominative or plural nominative, depending on the noun).

The term is primarily a descriptive label used in grammar descriptions, language teaching, and linguistic corpora. It helps distinguish the form used as the base or citation form from other inflected forms in tables and analyses. Nominatiivimuotoinen contrasts with forms described as genitiivimuotoinen (genitive-form), partitiivimuotoinen (partitive-form), essive- or translative forms, and so on.

Example usage in analysis: in the sentence “Koira nukkuu,” the word koira is in nominatiivimuotoinen form as the subject, while the verb kait or other elements may carry other inflections. In dictionary entries, the nominatiivimuotoinen form often corresponds to the lemma listed for a word.

Overall, nominatiivimuotoinen is a practical label for the nominative form of a word within Finnish syntax and morphology.