viimeistä

Viimeistä is a Finnish word that functions as a grammatical form of the adjective viimeinen, meaning "the last" or "final." It is the partitive singular form, used when the noun it modifies is in the partitive case or in fixed expressions where the partitive is required.

As with Finnish adjectives, viimeistä agrees with the noun in number and case. The partitive singular form viimeistä appears in sentences such as "Hän söi viimeistä palasta" meaning "He ate the last piece." It also occurs in phrases like "viimeistä kertaa," a common expression meaning "for the last time." These uses illustrate how viimeistä marks the object or mass-like portion of something rather than a definite, countable item.

In broader grammar, viimeinen is the positive form meaning "the last." Other inflected forms include viimeisen (genitive singular), viimeiset (nominative plural), and various cases and moods for full agreement. The word is typically stressed on the first syllable, and the pronunciation in everyday speech centers on the initial "vi-."

Etymology traces viimeistä to the root viime-, from the Finnish word viimeinen, which has long carried the sense of finality or closure. As a common adjective form, viimeistä is widely used in narrative, descriptive, and temporal contexts to pinpoint the final element of a set, sequence, or moment.

See also: viimeinen, viims.