päivänä

Päivänä is the essive case form of the Finnish noun päivä, meaning day. In Finnish grammar, the essive case marks a temporary state or role, often translated as “as a day” or used to indicate time in expressions such as on a given day.

Morphology and forms: The singular essive form is päivänä. The plural essive is päivinä, used to talk about days in a generic or multiple-day context. The form is formed by adding the suffix -nä to the stem päivä and adjusting for vowel harmony. With numbers or certain determiners, päivänä can appear in extended expressions like kolmena päivänä (on three days) or use with demonstratives in phrases such as tässä päivänä (on this day).

Usage and common expressions: Päivänä is primarily used to denote time within a day or to describe a temporary role or state. A very common fixed expression is tänä päivänä, which means on this day or nowadays, depending on context. Sinä päivänä can mean on that day in narrative or comparative contexts. In general, päivänä appears after pronouns or determiners to specify a temporal reference, especially in written Finnish or formal speech.

Relation to other cases: Päivä also occurs in genitive (päivän), partitive (päivää), and other finite forms. The essive رäposti contrasts with these cases, emphasizing temporary state or time frame rather than a direct object or location.

See also: Finnish grammar,essive case, nominal cases, päivät (plural of päivä).