poliisista

Poliisista is the elative singular form of the Finnish noun poliisi, meaning "from the police" or "about the police," depending on the verb and context. The elative case in Finnish expresses origin or source and is also used to indicate the topic of discussion with certain verbs, such as puhua (to talk) or keskustella (to discuss). As a result, poliisista commonly appears in sentences about information sourced from the police or topics concerning the police.

Morphology and nuance: poliisista is the singular elative form. When referring to police officers as individuals, the plural elative would normally be poliiseista. In practice, poliisista is most often used when the reference is to the police as an institution or to a general topic involving law enforcement, while poliiseista would be used for discussions about multiple officers.

Usage notes: common contexts include discussing or describing information related to the police, or talking about the police as a subject. Examples include: Keskustelemme poliisista (We are discussing the police), Puhuin poliisista (I spoke about the police), Tiedot poliisista ovat julkisia (The information about the police is public). The exact translation of poliisista depends on the accompanying verb and the intended meaning (origin vs. topic).

Etymology and related forms: poliisi is the Finnish word for police, borrowed into Finnish from Scandinavian and Latin-derived sources shaping a common European term for law enforcement. Poliisista is formed by adding the elative suffix -sta to the stem poliisi. Related forms include poliisit (police officers, plural) and poliiseista (the elative plural form, used when the reference is to multiple officers).