vertailtavaan

Vertailtavaan is a Finnish grammatical form, the illative singular of the participial adjective vertailtava, which is derived from the verb vertailla meaning to compare. The core idea of vertailtava is “that can be compared” or “to be compared.” In the illative case, vertailtavaan is used to indicate the destination or target of the comparison, i.e., the item or group into which something is directed for comparison.

The form is part of Finnish participial adjectives built with the suffix -ttava, which yields a sense of capability or suitability. When inflected for illative, the ending becomes -aan or -aan depending on vowel harmony, resulting in vertailtavaan. This makes it suitable for phrases that specify a target of comparison, such as vertailtavaan kohteeseen, vertailtavaan aineistoon, or vertailtavaan ryhmään.

Usage in Finnish is most common in formal or academic writing, where it helps to mark the object or category that is subject to comparison. It can occur in noun phrases like “vertailtavaan kohteeseen liittyvät tiedot” or “vertailtavaan dataan perustuva analyysi,” both indicating data or objects that are intended to be compared.

Related terms include vertailu (comparison), vertailla (to compare), and the base adjective vertailtava. The illative form vertailtavaan serves a specific syntactic function: it routes the sense of comparison toward a defined illative target within a sentence.