ostoksistaan

Ostoksistaan is a Finnish phrase that literally means “from his/her shopping” and is used to refer to a person’s purchases. It is formed from the plural noun ostokset (purchases) with the elative case suffix -sta/-stä, plus the third-person possessive suffix, producing ostoksistaan. The construction communicates the origin or source of what is being discussed—the subject’s shopping.

In usage, ostoksistaan appears primarily in written Finnish, including journalism, commentary, and consumer reporting, where authors summarize or attribute aspects of a person’s spending. It can function as a part of a larger clause that comments on what someone bought or how their shopping is perceived. For example, you might encounter sentences like ostoksistaan kertoi or ostoksistaan päätellen, to indicate that the person’s purchases are being referenced or used as evidence.

Although the form is well understood by Finnish speakers, ostoksistaan is not a common everyday utterance in casual conversation. It tends to appear in more formal or narrative contexts when the writer wants to specify that the discussion centers on someone’s purchases rather than on other topics.

See also: ostokset, elative case in Finnish grammar, possessive suffixes in Finnish.