taivutetut

Taivutetut is the Finnish term for inflected forms of words, produced by taivutus (inflection or conjugation). In Finnish grammar, most word classes—nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals, and verbs—have taivutetut muodot that express information such as case, number, person, tense, or mood. The concept is central to understanding sentence structure and meaning because the form of a word often signals its grammatical role.

Etymology and scope: Taivutetut is the plural form of taivutettu, the past participle of taivuttaa ("to bend"). In linguistics, taivutettu is used figuratively to mean "inflected." The term appears in grammar descriptions and language-learning materials to refer to forms that carry grammatical information beyond the lemma.

Examples: For a noun like talo (house), taivutetut muodot include talon (genitive), talossa (inessive), taloon (illative), talot (nominative plural), taloja (partitive plural). For a verb like puhua (to speak), taivutetut muodot include puhun (I speak), puhuu (he/she speaks), puhuit (you spoke), indicating person and tense. Adjectives and pronouns also take taivutus forms to agree with nouns and express comparison, definiteness, and other features.

Significance: Recognizing taivutetut forms helps in parsing sentences, translating, and learning Finnish. Dictionaries and grammar guides typically list lemma forms and indicate common taivutus possibilities, aiding learners in understanding how words change across contexts.