päteinen

Pääteinen is a term used in Finnish linguistics to refer to a word form that carries a grammatical ending. It is used to describe inflected forms of words, such as nouns, adjectives, pronouns or verbs, that bear case, number, possessive markers and other grammatical categories.

Etymology-wise, pääteinen is formed from pääte, meaning an ending or suffix in a grammatical sense, together with the adjectival suffix -inen. The term thus conveys the idea of a form that possesses an ending rather than existing in a purely uninflected base.

In usage, a form such as talossa (in the house), talon (of the house) or kissan (cat’s) are examples of pääteinen forms of talo and kissa, respectively. These forms illustrate how endings encode spatial relations, possession, and other grammatical relationships. The concept is primarily encountered in academic discussions of morphology and may not be common in everyday language description.

Relation to other terms: the idea of a pääteinen form is closely connected to the broader notion of inflected forms or endings. In Finnish grammar, analyses often focus on the endings themselves to identify case, number, tense, or person; the label pääteinen is a descriptive tool rather than a separate grammatical category.