pyytäjien

Pyytäjä is a Finnish noun meaning a person who asks for alms or help. The form pyytäjien is the genitive plural, used to indicate possession or relation to the group of such people. In practice, pyytäjä can refer to a beggar or, more broadly, to someone who makes a request or petition. In everyday language, kerjäläinen is the more common term for a beggar, while pyytäjä can carry a neutral or literary nuance and may be used when referring to someone who asks for something in a general sense, not solely money.

Etymologically, pyytäjä derives from the verb pyytää, meaning to ask or request. The agent noun is formed with the suffix -jä, yielding pyytäjä, with the plural nominative pyytäjät and the genitive plural pyytäjien. The partitive plural is pyytäjiä. The genitive pyytäjien is used in phrases such as pyytäjien joukko (a group of beggars/petitioners) or pyytäjien tilanne (the situation of beggars).

Usage and nuance vary by context. In modern Finnish, pyytäjä is more common in descriptive or historical writing or in neutral, non-derogatory contexts, whereas kerjäläinen remains the standard everyday term for someone who begs publicly. Pyytäjä can also appear in literary or sociocultural discussions to emphasize the act of asking or the role of a person who petitions rather than to label them by a social category alone.

See also: kerjäläinen; pyyntö; petitioning.