suhteelliset

Suhteelliset is the plural nominative form of the Finnish adjective suhteellinen, meaning relative or relational. The term describes something that depends on another factor, reference point, or comparison, rather than being absolute. In everyday Finnish, suhteellinen is used to express contextual dependence, for example in phrases like suhteelliset vaikutukset (relative effects) or suhteelliset arvot (relative values).

Suhteellinen is formed from the noun suhde (relationship) with the derivational suffix -ellinen, which creates adjectives meaning “having to do with.” The form suhteelliset agrees with plural nouns, as in suhteelliset mittaukset (relatural measurements) or suhteelliset tekijät (relational factors). Like other Finnish adjectives, suhteellinen inflects for case and number, producing forms such as suhteellistä (partitive), suhteelliseen (illative), and so on.

Usage and scope. The concept is common in science, philosophy, and everyday language to denote dependence on context, frame of reference, or comparison. In physics and relativity discussions, suhteellinen can translate ideas of relativity, indicating that certain quantities are not absolute but vary with perspective (for example, relative time or relative velocity). In statistics, economics, and social sciences, it appears in expressions describing relative shares, relative changes, or relative importance. In linguistics, it can be used to discuss relational aspects of language, though technical terms such as relatiivinen lause are more typical for “relative clause.”

See also: relativity, suhteellisuus, relatiivinen.