pysäyttävistä

Pysäyttävä is a Finnish adjective meaning arresting, striking, or captivating. It is used of people, objects, events, or texts that make a strong impression and seem to stop the viewer or reader in their tracks. The noun form can describe something unusually powerful or moving, often in a critical or evaluative context.

Pysäyttävistä is the elative plural form of the adjective pysäyttävä. In Finnish, adjectives decline by number and case to match the noun they modify. Pysäyttävistä is used when the modified noun is plural and in the elative case (often translated as “from arresting …,” but functionally it marks the grammatical role of the whole noun phrase within the sentence). The elative plural form is one of several inflections the adjective can take, with pysäyttävien (genitive plural) and pysäyttävissä (inessive plural) among others.

Usage of pysäyttävä and its inflected forms is common in arts criticism, journalism, and descriptive writing. It emphasizes a strong, sometimes emotional impact, and can convey intensity without resorting to subjective or melodramatic language. When used with a plural noun, the phrase can describe a collection or set of works, events, or phenomena that are collectively arresting.

Examples:

- Näyttely koostuu pysäyttävistä valokuvista. (The exhibition consists of arresting photographs.)

- Pysäyttävistä tarinoista koostuva kirja on saanut kiitosta. (A book composed of arresting stories has received praise.)

- Pysäyttävistä esityksistään tunnettu teatteriryhmä vierailee kaupungissa. (A theater group known for its arresting performances.)

Etymology: pysäyttävä comes from pysäyttää (to stop) with the participial suffix -vä, forming an adjective that describes something capable of stopping or overwhelming.