pidettyinä

Pidettyinä is a Finnish grammatical form derived from the past passive participle pidetty, meaning “kept” or “regarded.” It is the plural essive form, used to describe the state or role of multiple referents: “as being kept” or “as kept/considered.” The singular counterpart is pidettyänä.

Morphology and meaning

Pidettyinä is formed by taking pidetty and adding the plural essive suffix -inä (the singular essive being pidettynä). Like other essive forms, pidettyinä agrees with the referents in number and expresses a temporary state or role, rather than a fixed classification. Finnish does not assign gender in this form.

Usage and examples

Pidettyinä is common in formal or descriptive Finnish, such as legal, historical, or journalistic prose, where it conveys that people or things are in a particular state. Typical constructions include phrases like:

- henkilöt pidettyinä vankeina (the persons kept as prisoners)

- todistajina pidettyinä (kept/held as witnesses)

In these examples, pidettyinä functions as part of a larger clause describing the status of the subjects. The form is most natural in written rather than casual spoken Finnish, where simpler constructions might be preferred.

Relation to other forms

Pidettyinä contrasts with the singular pidettynä (as kept) and with other participial forms that express different states or roles. It is part of Finnish’s broader system of essive cases used to express “as” in a temporary or role-based sense.

See also: Finnish grammar, participles, essive case, past passive participle pidetty.