päätteen

Päätteen is the genitive singular form of the Finnish noun pääte, meaning suffix or ending in linguistic and grammatical discussions. The term pääte refers to a grammatical or derivational ending that attaches to a word stem to indicate case, mood, number, possession, or to form new words. Päätteet (the plural form) are suffixes in general, and päätteen is used when referring to a single suffix in analytic descriptions.

In Finnish morphology, suffixes are attached to stems to express grammatical relations or to derive new words. Common examples include the inessive suffix -ssa/-ssä, the partitive forms -a/-ä/-ta/-tä, and possessive or plural suffixes such as -mme (our) or -t (plural in some forms). For instance, talo + -ssa yields talossa (in the house), and talo + -mme yields talomme (our house). These instances illustrate how a pääte modifies meaning or grammatical function without changing the stem’s base meaning.

Suffixes in Finnish follow phonological rules, including vowel harmony and, in some cases, consonant gradation. The shape of a päte can vary depending on the stem’s final vowel and consonant context, which affects form like -ssa vs. -ssä or other allomorphic variants. This variability is a standard feature of how suffixes attach to stems in Finnish.

See also: pääte, Finnish morphology, inflectional endings, derivational endings.