pilkkua

Pilkkua is the partitive singular form of the Finnish noun pilkku, which means a comma or, more broadly, a punctuation mark. In everyday use, pilkkua refers to the comma as a writing sign that helps separate clauses, items in a list, or other elements within a sentence. In addition to its punctuation meaning, pilkkku is also the term for the decimal comma used in Finnish numerals, where numbers such as 3,14 use a comma to separate the whole part from the fractional part.

Morphology and grammar are central to the form pilkkua. Pilkkua is the partitive singular; other cases of pilkku include pilkkua in the partitive, pilkun in the genitive, and pilkussa in the inessive, among other inflected forms. The partitive form appears in sentences where the object is indefinite, uncountable, or presented as an incomplete amount, for example in constructions like tarvitaan pilkkua (a comma is needed).

Usage in writing follows standard Finnish punctuation rules. The pilkku serves to indicate a short pause or to separate items in a list, and it is distinct from the period (piste) or the semicolon (puolipiste). When used as the decimal separator, the decimal comma is the same symbol expressed orally as “comma” in Finnish.

Beyond punctuation, pilkku can occasionally refer to small marks or specks on a surface in a broader sense, though this use is less common in modern writing. In the Finnish language, pilkkua and its inflected forms appear frequently in grammar and typography discussions.

See also: Finnish punctuation, decimal comma, punctuation marks in Finnish.