omistava

Omistava is a Finnish linguistic term used to describe possession-related forms and constructions. In Finnish grammar, possession is expressed mainly by suffixes attached to the noun or pronoun, rather than by a separate possessive case. The omistava forms indicate who possesses or owns the object, and they reflect the possessor’s person and number.

Finnish possessive suffixes attach to the controlled noun to mark ownership. Common examples with the noun talo (house) and koira (dog) show the pattern: taloni (my house), talosi (your house), talonsa (his/her/its house), talomme (our house), talonne (your, plural house), talonsa (their house). The suffixes correspond to the possessor: -ni for I, -si for you, -nsa/-nsä for he/she/it, -mme for we, -nne for you all, and -nsä for they. In practice, the third-person forms -nsa/-nsä are identical for many speakers across singular and plural possessor, with context clarifying the possessor.

The term omistava also appears as the present active participle of the verb omistaa (to own). As a participle, omistava means “possessing” or “owning” and can function as an adjective or in noun phrases describing someone or something that possesses something. For example, omistava ihminen would be a “person who possesses.” In scholarly and educational contexts, omistava is used to label possession-related morphology and to distinguish it from other grammatical elements such as the genitive or possessive pronouns.

See also: possessive forms in Finnish, genitive, possessive pronouns, participles.