tarvittun

Tarvittun is a Finnish attributive participial form that historically means “the needed” or “the required.” It is derived from the verb tarvita (to need) through the past passive participle tarvittu, with an archaic attributive ending -n that appears before a noun. In modern standard Finnish, the more common equivalents are tarvittu and the adjective tarvittava.

The form is typically encountered in older literary texts, poetry, or regional speech, where participial adjectives in -tun were used to describe nouns in a way that emphasizes necessity or requirement. Because it is not part of contemporary standard usage, tarvittun often signals a historical or stylistic nuance rather than everyday meaning.

In practice, tarvittun is seen in noun phrases such as tarvittun tavaran hankkiminen, meaning the procurement of the needed goods. Its usage is largely confined to contexts aiming for archaic tone or dialectal flavor. For most modern writers and speakers, replacements such as tarvittu (the needed) or tarvittava (necessary) are preferred to convey the same idea without historical nuance.

Relation to modern Finnish is mainly diachronic. Tarvittun illustrates how Finnish participial adjectives were once more productive in attributive positions, a pattern that has largely faded in everyday language. Today, the standard language favors forms that are transparent to speakers and learners, while tarvitset and tarvitsee-based constructions handle similar meanings without the historical inflection.

See also: tarvita, tarvittava, tarvittu.