tiettyjä

Tiettyjä is the partitive plural form of the Finnish adjective tietty, meaning "certain" or "specific." It is used to refer to a subset of things or people that are not identified individually but are understood from context. The form appears when the modified noun is in the partitive plural, often in contexts involving indefiniteness or after negation.

In practice, tiettyjä is used with plural nouns in the partitive: tiettyjä asioita (certain things), tiettyjä ihmisiä (certain people), tiettyjä ehtoja (certain conditions). Examples include: "Hän löysi tiettyjä faktoja." "On tiettyjä ehtoja, joita noudatetaan." "Tiettyjä asioita on pohdittava." The nuance is that the speaker has a definite but not fully specified set of items in mind, or the quantity is partial rather than complete.

Etymology and relation to other forms: tietty derives from the Finnish root related to knowledge (tieto) and has developed into an adjective meaning "certain" or "specified." Like other Finnish adjectives, tietty inflects to agree with the noun it modifies in case and number; the partitive plural tiettyjä expresses a non-finite or partially quantified object.

Usage notes: tiettyjä implies a particular subset that the speaker or listener understands from context. It is often chosen over the straightforward word "joitakin" (some) when the subset is more definite or defined by previous reference, conditions, or criteria.