vanhaa

Vanha is a Finnish adjective meaning old. It describes nouns and agrees with the noun in number and case. The word is common in everyday language and appears in phrases referring to objects, people, or concepts that are old in age or longstanding.

Vanha inflects for number and case. The base nominative singular form is vanha; the partitive singular is vanhaa. The plural nominative is vanhat and the plural partitive is vanhoja. These forms are used to match the noun they modify and the function of the word in the sentence.

Partitive usage: vanhaa is used when the object is indefinite or when the verb requires a partitive object. Examples include Ostan vanhaa kahvia (I am buying some old coffee) and Syön vanhaa leipää (I am eating old bread). The form vanhempi is the comparative, and vanhin the superlative, but those forms are separate from vanha’s inflection.

Etymology: Vanha is native to Finnish. It is cognate with Estonian vana, meaning old, and is traced to Proto-Finnic roots. The word has parallels in related Finnic languages and has long been part of the core vocabulary describing age and history.