yhtensä

Yhtensä is a Finnish word that translates to "total," "sum," or "altogether" in English. It is commonly used in mathematics and everyday language to indicate the result of adding numbers or items together. For example, if you have two apples and you add three more, the yhtensä of apples is five. In a financial context, yhtensä would refer to the grand total of expenses or income.

The word is formed from the root "yhte-" which means "together" or "joint," and the suffix "-nsä" which is a possessive suffix indicating "its" or "their." Therefore, yhtensä literally implies "its togetherness" or "their togetherness," effectively conveying the concept of a combined quantity.

In everyday conversation, yhtensä can be used to summarize a group of things or to ask for the cumulative amount. For instance, one might ask, "Kuinka monta ihmistä oli paikalla yhtensä?" which translates to "How many people were there altogether?". This usage highlights its function in consolidating information or quantities into a single, comprehensive figure. The word is a fundamental part of Finnish vocabulary, essential for expressing summation and totality.