taitoihinsa

Taitoihinsa is a form found in Finnish grammar that can be analyzed as a combination of the noun taito, meaning "skill," with case and possessive morphemes that together produce a meaning related to “into” or “toward” skills possessed by someone. The illative plural ending -ihin marks movement toward or direction into aplural noun, and the third-person possessive suffix -nsä/-nsä attaches to indicate ownership. The resulting form taitoihinsa is typically glossed as “to his/her skills” or more idiomatically “to his/her own skills.”

Etymology and morphology

The base taito conveys the concept of ability or craft. By adding the illative plural suffix -ihin, the word takes on a directional sense toward multiple skills. The possessive suffix -nsä/-nsä then marks that those skills belong to the subject (he/she/they). Finnish morphology allows these affixes to accumulate, producing a single word that functions as a complement or object in a sentence, depending on the verb and construction.

Usage and meaning

In practice, taitoihinsa appears in contexts that emphasize reliance on or reference to a person’s internal abilities. It can express confidence in one’s own capabilities or indicate turning to one’s established competencies. The phrase is more common in descriptive or literary writing than in everyday speech, and it often serves to foreground personal skill as a source of action or justification.

Examples

- Hän luottaa taitoihinsa. (He relies on his skills.)

- Hän haki apua taidoistaan, mutta palasi lopulta taitoihinsa. (He sought help from his skills, but returned to his own skills.)

See also

Finnish grammar, illative case, possessive suffixes.