nälkään

Nälkään is the illative form of the Finnish noun nälkä, meaning hunger. In Finnish grammar, the illative case marks movement into or entry into a state, and with abstract or condition nouns it often indicates experiencing that state. Thus nälkään is used to express “into hunger” or “into a state of hunger.”

The form is created by adding the illative suffix to the base word, yielding nälkään. It commonly appears in written Finnish, particularly in historical, descriptive, or formal prose, where the author wants to emphasize the severity or inevitability of hunger. It can also occur in idiomatic or metaphorical expressions that discuss suffering from lack of food or famine.

Usage notes include the fact that nälkään tends to appear in contexts describing famine, food shortages, or extreme hardship, such as historical accounts or moral narratives. While everyday speech more often uses other constructions to convey hunger, nälkään remains a standard grammatical option for precise, state-focused description.

Related terms include nälkä (hunger), nälkäinen (hungry), and nälkävuosi (a year of famine). Understanding nälkään helps illustrate how Finnish expresses entering a condition or experiential state through case endings, a common feature of the language’s rich case system. See also Finnish grammar and case usage for illative forms.