suhdettaan

Suhdettaan is a Finnish grammatical form built from the noun suhd(e) meaning relationship or relation, paired with a third-person possessive reference. The result is a noun phrase that can mean “their relationship” or “its relationship,” depending on the subject of the sentence. It is used in formal or written Finnish to emphasize the relationship itself rather than the entities involved.

Formation and function: In Finnish, possessive information is often attached directly to the noun. Suhdettaan represents a third-person possessive form combined with the appropriate case usage, producing a word that functions as a noun phrase within a clause. The exact morphology varies with person, number, and involved antecedents, but the core idea is possession or association of the relationship by a third party.

Usage: Suhdettaan occurs mainly in contexts such as politics, diplomacy, or journalism where there is a need to discuss how one party relates to another. It allows speakers to foreground the quality or state of the relationship itself. Because it is a specific inflected form rather than a separate lexeme, its appearance is tied closely to sentence grammar and discourse style.

Examples:

- Suhdettaan on kehittynyt viime vuosina. (Their/its relationship has developed in recent years.)

- Kansainväliset suhteet ovat keskeinen osa ulkopolitiikkaa, ja suhdettan korostaminen voi viitata siihen, miten maat näkevät toisensa. (International relations are a central part of foreign policy, and emphasis on the relation itself can indicate how the parties view one another.)

See also: Finnish grammar, possessive suffixes, relation and diplomacy terminology.