The Adessive Case (Millä) – Finnish Grammar
Welcome to the page about the adessive case, which answers the question millä! If you’re looking for an overview about missä, mistä and mihin, look here.
- The Use of the Adessive Case
- When something is ON something
- When something is NEAR something
- When talking about open places
- Possession (having something)
- Traveling by
- Using a tool
- With certain expressions of time
- In many phrases
- The Formation of the Adessive Case
- Words ending in a single vowel
- Words ending in an -e
- Words ending in -i
- New words ending in -i
- Old words ending in -i
- Old words ending in -si
- Words ending in a consonant
- Words ending in -nen
- Words ending in -as
- Words ending in -is
- Words ending in -os/-ös
- Words ending in -us/-ys
- Words ending in -ton
- Words ending in -in
- Words ending in -ut
- Words ending in -tar
- Non-Finnish words ending in a consonant
- Consonant Gradation in the Adessive Case
1. Use of the Adessive Case (Millä)
1.1. When something is ON something
When a thing is on top of something.
Finnish | English |
---|---|
Leipä on pöydällä. | The bread is on the table. |
Taulu on seinällä. | The picture is on the wall. |
Minä seison vuorella. | I stand on a mountain. |
1.2. When something is NEAR something
When something is near something, you will often also use -lla. Say you’re meeting a friend, and you tell them you’ll meet inside the library, you would use kirjastossa. If you’re agreeing to meet just outside of the library, maybe near the front door or in the near vicinity of it, you would use kirjastolla. Often, you will use “at” in English.
Finnish | English |
---|---|
Minä odotan sinua kirjastolla. | I wait for you at the library. |
Tavataan kaupungilla. | Let’s meet in the city. |
Joni seisoo ovella. | Joni is standing at the door. |
Lapseni ovat koululla. | My kids are at school. |
1.3. When talking about open places
By “open places” I mean places without a roof, usually outdoor places (think: a yard, bus stop, market square).
This is not a 100% clear rule, because it does come with exceptions. For example, a street is a place without a roof (kadulla), but a forest and a park do have some kind of “roof” formed by the trees inside it (metsässä, puistossa). On the other hand, some kiosks clearly HAVE a roof, but you still say kioskilla. This most probably has to do with the history of kiosks. Originally, the salesperson would be inside the kiosk, but the customers were always outside.
Because the rule is so full of holes, you might want to just learn these words by heart. There really aren’t that many of them.
Finnish | English |
---|---|
Minä seison bussipysäkillä. | I stand at the bus stop. |
Sinä seisot (juna/bussi)asemalla. | You’re standing in the (train/bus) station |
Hän seisoo torilla. | He is standing on the market square. |
Me seisomme kioskilla. | We are standing at the kiosk. |
Te seisotte pihalla. | You are standing in the yard. |
He seisovat kadulla. | They are standing on the street. |
1.4. Possession (having something)
Finnish doesn’t have a separate verb for “to have”. Instead it uses a different sentence construction, centered around the verb “olla”, “to be”, and the adessive case (-lla). You can read more about that in our separate article.
Finnish | English |
---|---|
Minulla on hyvät juoksukengät. | I have good running shoes. |
Mikolla on harmaa tukka. | Mikko has grey hair. |
1.5. Traveling By
The adessive case is also used with means of transportation. You can read more about traveling by bus here.
Finnish | English |
---|---|
Matkustan autolla. | I travel by car. |
Tulen kouluun bussilla. | I come to school by bus. |
Potilas saapui helikopterilla. | The patient arrived by helicopter. |
Soudin veneellä järven yli. | I rowed by boat over the lake. |
1.6. Using a tool
Any tool you use can get -lla added to it to express that you use it to perform an action. You can find more example in this blog post.
Finnish | English |
---|---|
Me kirjoitamme kynällä. | We write with a pen. |
Syötkö sä lusikalla? | Do you eat with a spoon? |
Avaan oven avaimella. | I open the door with a key. |
Pesen itseni saippualla. | I wash myself with soap. |
1.7. With certain expressions of time
You can learn more about expressions of time elsewhere on my website.
Finnish | English |
---|---|
kesällä | in summer |
keväällä | in spring |
tällä viikolla | this week |
viime viikolla | last week |
yöllä | at night |
Finnish | English |
---|---|
syksyllä | in autumn |
talvella | in winter |
ensi viikolla | next week |
päivällä | during day time |
illalla | in the evening |
1.8. In many phrases
We use the adessive case in many phrases. I currently have two articles on these:
- [olla + x:lla]: olla eläkkeellä, olla harhateillä, olla tarjolla
- [x:llani/x:llasi/x:llaan]: pahoillani, kyljelläni, suu ammollaan
2. The Formation of the Adessive Case
To signify that something is ON or AT something, you don’t use a preposition as you would in English. Instead, you add -lla/-llä (depending on the vowel harmony rules) to the word. The adessive is one of the six location cases.
You will notice that the -lla case is added to exactly the same form of the word as -ssa!
2.1. Words ending in a single vowel (-a/-ä, -u/-y, -o/-ö): add -lla/-llä
This is also true for some words ending in -i, but they generally have a different rule. See below!
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
kala | kalalla | tyyny | tyynyllä |
talo | talolla | seinä | seinällä |
työ | työllä | melu | melulla |
2.2. Words ending in -e: add an extra -e- before the -lla/-llä
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 (eg. parveke, koe) and their genetive strong (eg. parvekkeella, kokeella).
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
huone | huoneella | perhe | perheellä |
kappale | kappaleella | kirje | kirjeellä |
lentokone | lentokoneella | taide | taiteella |
parveke | parvekkeella | koe | kokeella |
2.3. Words ending in -i
I have a separate article all about the difference between old and new words ending in -i. You could check that out after you’ve looked at the examples on this page!
2.3.1. New words ending in -i: add -lla/-llä
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.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
banaani | banaanilla | paperi | paperilla |
kahvi | kahvilla | pankki | pankilla |
posti | postilla | maali | maalilla |
tili | tilillä | adverbi | adverbilla |
2.3.2. Old words ending in -i: replace -i- with -e- and add -lla/-llä
Old words are very often nature words. After all, nature has been around for so long that Finns have had names for things in nature since the very beginning. The age of some words can be confusing, for example äiti (mother) is actually a new Finnish word, even though mothers have been around since the beginning of time!
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Inessive |
---|---|---|---|
suomi | suomella | ovi | ovella |
järvi | järvellä | kivi | kivellä |
suuri | suurella | nimi | nimellä |
pieni | pienellä | lehti | lehdellä |
2.3.3. Old words ending in -si: replace -si- with -de- and add -lla/-llä
More old words, but this time with -si at their end. This group has its own additional change
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
uusi | uudella | vuosi | vuodella |
käsi | kädellä | kuukausi | kuukaudella |
vesi | vedellä | reisi | reidellä |
2.4. Words ending in a consonant
2.4.1. Words ending in -nen: replace the -nen with -se before the -lla/-llä
This is the same change that -nen words go through when being used in any case except the partitive.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
nainen | naisella | hevonen | hevosella |
suomalainen | suomalaisella | eteinen | eteisellä |
iloinen | iloisella | ihminen | ihmisellä |
sininen | sinisellä | toinen | toisella |
2.4.2. Words ending in -as: replace -as with -aa- + -lla
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 (eg. rakas, opas) and the strong grade in the adessive (eg. rakkaalla, oppaalla). Read more about words ending in -as here.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
rakas | rakkaalla | rikas | rikkaalla |
taivas | taivaalla | lipas | lippaalla |
opas | oppaalla | itsekäs | itsekkäällä |
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 which that get -ikse- when inflected.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
kallis | kalliilla | roskis | roskiksella |
kaunis | kauniilla | kirppis | kirppiksellä |
kauris | kauriilla | fiilis | fiiliksellä |
ruis | rukiilla | futis | futiksella |
2.4.4. Words ending in -os/-ös: replace –os with –okse– and add –lla
Words ending in -os and –ös will respectively get -okse- and –ökse– when inflected.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
ostos | ostoksella | jäljennös | jäljennöksellä |
piirros | piiroksella | käännös | käännöksellä |
annos | annoksella | luonnos | luonnoksella |
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 adessive’s -lla. This depends on whether the word is derived from an adjective (eg. 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.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
mahdollisuus | mahdollisuudella | vastaus | vastauksella |
rakkaus | rakkaudella | kysymys | kysymyksellä |
ystävyys | ystävyydellä | keskus | keskuksella |
pimeys | pimeydellä | tarjous | tarjouksella |
2.4.6. Words ending in -ton: replace -ton with -ttoma- + -lla
Read more about words ending in -ton here.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
työtön | työttömällä | koditon | kodittomalla |
rahaton | rahattomalla | rasvaton | rasvattomalla |
maidoton | maidottomalla | alkoholiton | alkoholittomalla |
2.4.7. Words ending in -in: replace -in with -ime- + -lla
Read more about words ending in -in here.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
puhelin | puhelimella | keitin | keittimellä |
avain | avaimella | kiharrin | kihartimella |
puhallin | puhaltimella | suoritin | suorittimella |
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 addessive’s ending.
The much larger group is made up of NUT-participles such as väsynyt and tottunut. For these words, you will replace the -ut/yt with -ee- before the adessive’s case ending.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
kevyt | kevyellä | väsynyt | väsyneellä |
olut | oluella | ollut | olleella |
ohut | ohuella | mennyt | menneellä |
2.4.9. Words ending in -tar
Words endin in -tar are rare, but at least tytär (daughter) is a common word. In the millä-form, these words get -ttare- in place of the basic form’s -tar.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
tytär | tyttärellä | kuningatar | kuningattarella |
herttuatar | herttuattarella | jumalatar | jumalattarella |
2.4.10. Non-Finnish words ending in a consonant
Loanwords and foreign names (eg. Jonathan, Facebook) which end in a consonant will have an extra -i- added before the adessive’s -lla/llä.
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
---|---|---|---|
Jonathan | Jonathanilla | Facebookilla | |
William | Williamilla | Windows | Windowsilla |
Marian | Marianilla | Steam | Steamilla |
Mohamed | Mohamedilla | McDonalds | McDonaldsilla |
3. Consonant Gradation in the Adessive Case
Wordtype A | |||
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
tyttö | tytöllä | pankki | pankilla |
puku | puvulla | pöytä | pöydällä |
hattu | hatulla | kauppa | kaupalla |
silta | sillalla | kampa | kammalla |
hiekka | hiekalla | apu | avulla |
I have a separate article on wordtype A.
Wordtype B | |||
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Adessive | Nominative | Adessive |
savuke | savukkeella | opas | oppaalla |
keitin | keittimellä | tavoite | tavoitteella |
rakas | rakkaalla | hammas | hampaalla |
soitin | soittimella | puhallin | puhaltimella |
allas | altaalla | työtön | työttömällä |
I have a separate article on wordtype B.
why minulla is adessive form of minä? No specific rules for this word?
No, not really any rules. The personal pronouns are just unusual (minä-minulla, sinä-sinulla, hän-hänellä, me-meillä, te-teillä, he-heillä, kuka-kenellä)
This is a departure from the “location case” usage, but the adessive form is also seen in many adverbs, but somewhat disguised by the addition of personal possessive suffixes.
For example, the word mielellään (willingly, with pleasure; preferably) is, by its form, the adessive of mieli (mind) with a possessive suffix, so literally it means “with his/her mind”, but it has a specialized meaning. In standard language, the possessive suffix varies, e.g. Tein sen mielelläni (I did it with pleasure), Me teimme sen mielellämme (We did it with pleasure).
Filtering for “-llaan” and “-llään” endings in the Kotus word list (as described here) turned up many adverbs with Wiktionary entries:
[wearing ~(with nothing on top)]
[a condition or state]
[maximum]
(*note the –mmi plural superlative ending, as described here)
[mood]
(*note that several of these are included in the Other Adverbs of Manner section of Adverbs of Manner: Hitaasti, Helposti, Huonosti)
[position]
[static]
[time or phase]
Nice overview! I have some article drafts that include (some of) these. I’ll be sure to check back at your list once I get to publishing those.