päteviltä

Päteviltä is the elative plural form of the Finnish adjective pätevä, meaning competent or qualified. It appears when the adjective modifies a plural noun in the elative case, typically to indicate origin or source.

The form is commonly found in phrases such as from qualified authorities or from competent sources. For example, päteviltä viranomaisilta can be translated as “from qualified authorities.” The construction is frequent in official statements, journalism, and academic writing, where the source of information is important and needs to be specified.

In Finnish grammar, adjectives agree with the noun they modify in number and case. The elative case marks origin or source, and both the noun and its modifiers take the appropriate endings. Therefore, when the noun is plural and in the elative case, the accompanying adjective also appears in its elative plural form, as in päteviltä viranomaisilta or päteviltä lähteiltä.

Notes:

- päteviltä functions as a grammatical form rather than a standalone lexical item; its meaning is tied to the noun it modifies.

- The term is primarily encountered in formal or written Finnish; in everyday speech, speakers may use alternative phrasings to convey the same idea.

See also:

- pätevä

- Finnish grammar

- Elatiivi (elative case)