tunnustuksiaan

Tunnustuksiaan is a Finnish noun phrase that translates roughly as “their confessions” or “their admissions.” It is formed from the noun tunnustus, meaning a confession, admission, or acknowledgment, together with the plural partitive form tunnustuksia and the third-person plural possessive suffix, which marks ownership by the subject of the sentence. The result is a mass-like, possessive object that refers to more than one confession belonging to someone other than the speaker.

Morphology and usage are typical of Finnish inflection. The base tunnustus takes a plural partitive form (tunnustuksia) when the action concerns an indefinite quantity or a non-specific set of confessions. The possessive suffix indicates that these confessions belong to a third-person plural subject (for example, “they” or “an organization’s” confessions). Consequently, tunnustuksiaan is most commonly found as the object of verbs such as paljastaa (to reveal), tunnustaa (to admit), or kertoa (to tell), for example: he työnantajat paljastivat tunnustuksiaan to viranomaisille (the employers revealed their confessions to the authorities).

Nuance and scope are important. The partitive form often signals an indefinite amount or a focus on the act of confessing rather than a fixed inventory, and the possessive suffix clarifies whose confessions are being discussed. Tunnustuksiaan contrasts with tunnustuksensa (his/her/its confession) or tunnustuksensa, which would refer to a single confession rather than multiple.

See also: tunnustus, tunnustaa, tunnustuslausunnot.