The inessive case (inessiivi) ends in -ssa/-ssä and answers to the question “missä” aka “where“. If you’re looking for an overview about missä, mistä and mihin, look here.

1. Use of the Inessive Case (Missä)

1.1. When saying something is IN something

When something is in something, inside something physically, you will use the -ssa case.

1.2. When two things are closely connected

When two things are very close to each other, or connected in a way where one doesn’t easily come loose from the other, we can also use -ssa. This is different from in English. Learn more about how to express wearing clothes using the inessive here!

1.3. When objects have something

When people have something, you use the minulla on -sentence construction. When a THING has something, you generally use the inessive (-ssa). This is not a fool-proof rule, but you’re bound to run into this.

1.4. When using the verb “käydä“

The verb “käydä” means “to visit”, but the meaning of it is a lot wider than in English. In Finnish, you visit the toilet, the store and the shower. The idea of “käydä” is that you go somewhere, stay there for a short period of time, and then return to where you came from. In that light, you can see very well why you would “visit” the toilet. If you say you “go” to the toilet, you’re kind of focusing on the trip there rather than on the fact that you’ll be back after a little bit. You can find more examples of this in our article with example sentences. You can also learn more about käydä in general.

1.5. With certain expressions of time

Some expressions of time use the missä-form. With expressions of time, I would recommend against comparing with English because you will find out the Finnish system is a lot more difficult. Find out more in our article about expressions of time.

1.6. With the third infinitive

The inessive can also be used in combination with the third infinitive. In this case, the -ssa ending gets added to a verb rather than a noun! It expresses that something is/was taking place at the time we’re talking about.

1.7. In certain expressions

In certain expressions with the verb olla you will also find the missä-form. Many of these phrases are extremely common and definitely worth looking into! I currently have two articles on such phrases:

1.8. With the second infinitive

In the temporal participle construction, you will use the second infinitive in combination with the inessive to express that two things are happening at the same time (e.g. “Hämärässä lukiessa silmät alkavat särkeä” = “When reading in the dark your eyes start hurting”).

2. The Formation of the Inessive Case

The inessive is one of the six location cases. Its ending -ssa/ssä (see: vowel harmony) gets added to the same form as most of the other locations cases (-sta, -lla, -lta, -lle).

2.1. Words ending in a vowel (-a/-ä, -u/-y, -o/-ö): add -ssa/-ssä

This is also true for some words ending in -i, but they generally have a different rule. See below!

2.2. Words ending in -e: add an extra -e- before the -ssa/-ssä

Words ending in -e get a second -e- in any case except the partitive. Words ending in -e belong to wordtype B, which means their basic form will be weak (e.g. parveke, koe) and their inessive strong (e.g. parvekkeessa, kokeessa).

2.3. Words ending in -i

You can read more about the difference between the different kinds of words ending in -i here.

2.3.1. New words ending in -i: add -ssa/-ssä

New words are often loanwords. Usually they’re recognisable because they resemble words in other languages, like pankki for “bank”, or paperi for “paper”. Loanwords are easier than Finnish words because they don’t undergo as many changes when you add endings.

2.3.2. Old words ending in -i: replace -i- with -e- and add -ssa/-ssä

Old words are very often nature words. After all, nature has been around for so long that Finns have had names for nature words since the very beginning. Some words’ age can be confusing, for example äiti (mother) is actually a fairly new Finnish word, even though mothers have been around since the beginning of time!

This section combines words belonging to the OVI-type and the PIENI-type into one because these types undergo the exact same change when inflected in the inessive case.

2.3.3. Old words ending in -si: replace -si with -de- and add -ssa/-ssä

More old words, but this time with -si at their end. This group has its own additional change: the -si will turn into -de-.

I have a more extensive list of words that belong to this type here.

2.4. Words ending in a consonant

2.4.1. Words ending in -nen: replace the -nen with -se before the -ssa/-ssä

This is the same change that -nen words go through when used in any case except the partitive.

2.4.2. Words ending in -as: replace -as with -aa- + -ssa

Words ending in -as (or –äs, depending on vowel harmony rules) belong to wordtype B, so they will have the weak grade in their basic form (e.g. rakas, opas) and the strong grade in the inessive (e.g. rakkaassa, oppaassa). Read more about words ending in -as here.

2.4.3. Words ending in -is: two groups

For words ending in -is, we have two groups: words like kallis that get -ii- when inflected, and words like roskis that get -ikse- when inflected.

2.4.4. Words ending in -os/-ös: replace –os with –okse– and add –ssa

Words ending in -os and –ös will respectively get -okse- and –ökse– when inflected.

2.4.5. Words ending in -us/-ys: two groups

Words ending in –us can belong to two groups: some get -ukse-, others get -ude- before the inessive’s -ssa. This depends on whether the word is derived from an adjective (e.g. pimeä > pimeys) or not. Words which have been derived from an adjective get –ude-, while other words get –ukse-. You will want to check out this article to get the specifics.

Some general guidelines:

• If the word is based on a verb (such as opettaa > opetus), it will generally get –ukse-.
• If the word is based on an adjective (such as pimeä > pimeys), it will get –ude-.
• If the word is based on a noun (such as ystävä > ystävyys), it will get –ude-.
• If the word ends in –uus/yys (double vowel), you will get –ude-.

2.4.6. Words ending in -ton: replace -ton with -ttoma- + -ssa

Read more about words ending in -ton here.

2.4.7. Words ending in -in: replace -in with -ime- + -ssa

Read more about words ending in -in here.

2.4.8. Words ending in -ut: two groups

Words that end in -ut/yt can belong to two wordtypes. The smallest group of the two contains words such as olut, kevyt and lyhyt. For these words, you will replace the final -t with an –e- before the inessive’s case ending.

The much larger group is made up of NUT-participles such as väsynyt and tottunut. For the words, you will replace the -ut/yt with -ee- before the inessive’s case ending.

2.4.9. Words ending in -tar

Words endin in -tar are rare, but at least tytär (daughter) is a common word. In the missä-form, these words get -ttare- in place of the basic form’s -tar.

2.4.10. Non-Finnish words ending in a consonant

Loanwords and foreign names (e.g. Jonathan, Facebook) which end in a consonant will have an extra -i- added before the inessive’s -ssa.

You might also want to check out these two articles:

3. Consonant Gradation in the Inessive Case

I have a separate article on wordtype A.

I have a separate article on wordtype B.

That concludes the article on the inessive case!

Related posts:

Location Case Verb Rections – Rektiot Missä Mistä Mihin Hattu Päässä ja Kengät Jalassa – Inessive Case The Inflection of Postpositions – Finnish Grammar Juovuksissa Nukuksissa -UksissA(An) Adverbs