valintakriteerinsä

Valintakriteerinsä is a Finnish linguistic form built from the noun valintakriteeri, meaning selection criterion. The word represents the third-person possessive construction: it functions to indicate that the selection criterion belongs to someone or something, for example an organization, a person, or an entity. In pronunciation and orthography, the possessive suffix -nsä (or -nsa, depending on vowel harmony) is attached to valintakriteeri, producing valintakriteerinsä.

Morphology and usage

In Finnish, possessive suffixes attach to the base noun and align with vowel harmony. Valintakriteerinsä thus conveys “its/his/her selection criterion” or, when used with a subject, “the subject’s selection criterion.” The form is common in formal writing, particularly in contexts such as recruitment, admissions, procurement, and policy discussions, where one needs to refer to a specific criterion owned or defined by an actor.

Examples

Koulun valintakriteerinsä määriteltiin seuraavasti. This sentence illustrates referring to the school’s own selection criterion. Yrityksen valintakriteerinsä ohjaa rekrytointiprosessia, showing how the criterion guides a process belonging to the company.

Notes

Valintakriteerinsä is a singular possessive form. When speaking of multiple criteria owned by someone, Finnish typically uses the plural noun form (valintakriteerit) with an appropriate possessive marker, rather than extending valintakriteerinsä.