sileältä

Sileältä is the adessive singular form of the Finnish adjective sileä, meaning smooth. In Finnish grammar, this form is used to describe a sensory or experiential quality, often with verbs of perception such as tuntua (to feel) or kuulla (to hear), and can convey how something seems or feels from a particular perspective.

In use, sileältä typically expresses a tactile or surface quality and is most common when describing how something feels to the touch or appears to the senses. It is frequently found with verbs of sensation, for example: “Pinta tuntuu sileältä” (The surface feels smooth) or “Lehdet tuntuivat sileiltä” (The leaves felt smooth). It can also be used in comparisons or similes, as in “se muistutti sileältä lasilta” (it reminded me of smooth glass).

Morphology and syntax wise, sileältä is formed by taking the basic adjective stem sileä and adding the adessive suffix -ltä, with vowel harmony applied. The form changes for number, yielding both singular and plural adessive forms (for example, sileältä for singular and sileiltä for plural when used with plural subjects).

Etymologically, sileä derives from the Finnic root related to smoothness or evenness, and sileältä represents the standard adessive inflection used to express the sense of “from a smooth [state/quality]” or “in a smooth manner” in perceptual contexts.

See also: Finnish grammar, adjectives, adessive case, verbs of perception.