ymmärrettävään

ymmärrettävän is the elative form of the Finnish adjective ymmärrettävä, which means “understandable” or “comprehensible”. In Finnish grammar, adjectives decline according to case, number and possession. The elative case (‑stä/‑stä) indicates movement out of or from a location, and in the context of adjectives it is used to modify nouns that are described as being understandable in a certain context, for example in phrases like “selkeästä lausunnosta ymmärrettävänä” (“understandable from a clear statement”).

Etymologically, ymmärrettävä derives from the verb ymmärtää (“to understand”) combined with the suffix ‑ttava, which forms an agentive or descriptive adjective meaning “that which causes understanding”. The elative ending ‑n is added to the stem ymmärrettävä, resulting in ymmärrettävän, which agrees with the genitive or partitive form of the noun it modifies.

In usage, ymmärrettävän frequently appears in academic, legal and everyday Finnish to qualify concepts, explanations, or texts that are deemed clear enough to be grasped by the intended audience. It can also function in comparative constructions, as in “tämä selitys on vieläkin ymmärrettävämpi” (“this explanation is even more understandable”).

The word reflects the typical Finnish approach to precision in language, where case endings convey nuanced relational meanings without additional prepositions. Understanding its form and function helps learners of Finnish appreciate how adjectives interact with case morphology to produce expressive and concise statements.