pienestä

Pienestä is the elative singular form of the Finnish adjective pieni, meaning small or little. It is used before a noun to express origin or source when the noun is in the elative case (from, out of). The form is not a standalone noun; it is an inflected adjective that agrees with the noun it modifies in case and number.

Formation and usage: The elative singular of pieni is pienestä. In a noun phrase, the adjective takes the same case ending as the noun, so pienestä talosta means "from the small house." This pattern applies to other elative phrases as well, such as pienestä kaupungista (from the small town) or pienestä pöydästä (from the small table).

Examples:

- Pienestä talosta kuului ääni. ("A sound came from the small house.")

- Pienestä pöydästä löytyi vanha valokuva. ("An old photograph was found from the small table.")

- Hän on kotoisin pienestä kaupungista. ("He/She is from a small town.")

Etymology and scope: Pienestä derives from the root pien- in the Finnish word pieni, which traces back to Proto-Finnic. The form is common in both written and spoken Finnish and is used to specify location or origin relative to a small object or area.

See also: pieni (the base adjective), elative case, Finnish adjective inflection.