The inessive ending is -ssa ~ -ssä; in the singular this is added directly to the
inflectional stem (§18–20), and in the plural it is added after the plural -i-
following the inflectional stem (§26). Because the inessive ending begins
with two consonants the rules of consonant gradation apply in the normal
way (§15). In vene words (§19) and words with a basic form ending in a
consonant (§20), the inflectional stem appears in the strong grade.
The basic meaning of the inessive is ‘location inside something’,
sometimes ‘direct contact’.
Basic Inessive Inessive
form singular plural
talo talo/ssa in the house talo/i/ssa in the houses
puu puu/ssa in the tree pu/i/ssa in the trees
maa maa/ssa in the country ma/i/ssa in the countries
tunti tunni/ssa in the hour tunne/i/ssa in the hours
kivi kive/ssä in the stone kiv/i/ssä in the stones
käsi käde/ssä in the hand käs/i/ssä in the hands
liike liikkee/ssä in the shop liikke/i/ssä in the shops
nainen naise/ssa in the woman nais/i/ssa in the women
ajatus ajatukse/ssa in the thought ajatuks/i/ssa in the thoughts
syvyys syvyyde/ssä in the depth syvyyks/i/ssä in the depths
avain avaime/ssa in the key avaim/i/ssa in the keys
It is fairly rare for the inessive to mean ‘direct contact’, but there are a few
common expressions of this kind.
The six local cases 109
Minulla on sukat jala/ssa.
I have socks on my feet (lit. ‘in the foot’).
Pekalla on hansikkaat käde/ssä.
Pekka has gloves on his hands (‘in the hand’).
Venee/ssä on kaksi mastoa.
The boat (‘in the boat’) has two masts.
Tuopi/ssa on korvat.
The tankard (‘in the tankard’) has handles.
onko sinulla hattu pää/ssä?
Do you have a hat on your head (‘in the head’)?
Laiva on laituri/ssa.
The ship is at (‘in’) the quay.
The inessive is common in expressions of time, when it indicates the period
of time during which an action takes place.
Luin kirjan tunni/ssa.
I read the book in an hour.
Pimenee kymmene/ssä minuuti/ssa.
It gets dark in ten minutes.
Hän luki lääkäriksi viide/ssä vuode/ssa.
He qualified as a doctor in five years.
Päivä/ssä pääsee Helsingistä Kuopioon.
One can get from Helsinki to Kuopio in a day.
Tulen Norjaan ensi kuu/ssa.
I’m coming to Norway next month.
Sometimes the inessive is used to mark a substance covering something.
Talo on tule/ssa. The house is on (‘in’) fire.
Nenä oli vere/ssä. The nose was bloody (‘in blood’).
Aurajoki on jää/ssä. The river Aura is frozen (‘in ice’).
Lasi on huurtee/ssa. The glass is covered with frost (‘is in frost’).
Concord rules apply in the normal way: pronouns and adjectival modifiers
inflect in the same case and number as the headwor(§31).
iso/ssa talo/ssa in the big house
tä/ssä talo/ssa in this house
piene/ssä auto/ssa in the small car
iso/i/ssa talo/i/ssa in the big houses
tavallise/ssa liikkee/ssä in an ordinary shop
110 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
tavallis/i/ssa liikke/i/ssä in ordinary shops
toise/ssa maa/ssa in another country
tois/i/ssa ma/i/ssa in other countries
