tilapäista

Tilapäista is the partitive singular form of the Finnish adjective tilapäinen, meaning temporary or provisional. It is used to describe a noun in a non-permanent sense, indicating that the described state, condition, or amount is not intended to be permanent.

Grammatical notes: In Finnish, adjectives agree with the noun they modify in case and number. When the noun is in the partitive case, the adjective takes the corresponding partitive form. For tilapäinen, this form is tilapäista. The word cannot stand alone as a noun; it functions as a modifier in noun phrases such as tilapäista työntekijää or tilapäista lainaa. The form often appears after numerals (for example, kolme tilapäista työntekijää).

Usage: Tilapäista conveys non-permanence and is commonly used in contexts such as employment, housing, loans, or services that are not intended to be permanent. It can describe people (esimerkiksi työntekijöitä), things, or arrangements that are temporary. It is distinct from tilapäisesti, which is an adverb meaning “temporarily” and modifies verbs or adjectives rather than nouns.

Examples:

- Kolme tilapäistä työntekijää aloitti projektin.

- Yritykselle myönnettiin tilapäista lainaa.

Etymology and related forms: Tilapäinen is derived from the Finnish root tilapä-, related to the concept of a state or condition. Related terms include tilapäisesti (adverb), tilapäinen (base adjective), and synonyms such as väliaikainen or määräaikainen, which convey similar but not identical nuances of temporary status.

See also: tilapäinen, tilapäisesti, väliaikainen, määräaikainen.