samanlaisista

Samanlaisista is the elative plural form of the Finnish adjective samanlainen, which means "similar" or "of the same kind." It is used when referring to things that come from or pertain to other similar items, and it appears in contexts where the elative case is required, typically meaning "from similar [things]" or "about similar [things]."

In Finnish grammar, adjectives agree with the noun they modify in number and case. Samanlaisista marks the plural noun in the elative case. It commonly appears with plural nouns such as tapaukset, asiat, or ilmiöt to express a relationship to similar items. For example: "Keskustelussa viitattiin samanlaisista asioista" means "The discussion referred to similar things." Another example is "tutkimus valottaa samanlaisista tapauksista saatuja havaintoja," meaning "the study reveals observations obtained from similar cases." These constructions help group or compare items that share characteristics.

Samanlaisista contrasts with related forms such as samanlaiset (nominative plural, "the similar ones"), samanlaisia (partitive plural, "similar ones" as a perhaps uncertain quantity), and samanlaisten (genitive plural). The term is commonly used in academic, analytical, and descriptive Finnish to discuss categories or patterns across multiple items that are not identical but share features.

Etymology traces samanlaisesta back to sama (same) and the suffix -lainen, forming samanlainen; the elative plural is produced through standard Finnish case endings for adjectives. See also related expressions with erilainen (different) for contrasting perspectives.