Inessive case

In grammar, the inessive case (abbreviated INE; from Latin inesse "to be in or at") is a locative grammatical case. This case carries the basic meaning of "in": for example, "in the house" is "talo·ssa" in Finnish, "maja·s" in Estonian, "куд·са" (kud·sa) in Moksha, "etxea·n" in Basque, "nam·e" in Lithuanian, "sāt·ā" in Latgalian and "ház·ban" in Hungarian.

In Finnish the inessive case is typically formed by adding "ssa/ssä". Estonian adds "s" to the genitive stem. In Moksha, "са" (sa) is added. In Hungarian, the suffix "ban/ben" is most commonly used for inessive case, although many others, such as "on/en/ön" and others are also used, especially with cities.

In the Finnish language, the inessive case is considered the first (in Estonian the second) of the six locative cases, which correspond to locational prepositions in English. The remaining five cases are:

Elative case ("out of")
Illative case ("into")
Allative case ("onto")
Adessive case ("on")
Ablative case ("from")

Finnish

The Finnish inessive uses the suffix -ssa or -ssä (depending on vowel harmony). It is usually added to nouns and associated adjectives.

It is used in the following ways:

Expressing the static state of being in something.

asumme Suomessa = we live in Finland

(with time expressions) stating how long something took to be accomplished or done

possible English translations include in, within

kahdessa vuodessa = within 2 years, during 2 years

when two things are closely connected

English translations can include on in phrases of this type

Katja Lehtinen puhelimessa = Katja Lehtinen on the phone

sormus on sormessani = the ring is on my finger

as an existensial clause with the verb olla (to be), to express possession of objects

sanomalehdessä on 68 sivua = the newspaper has 68 pages

with the verb käydä, vierailla

minä käyn baarissa = I visit the bar

Inessive case

Finnish

Further reading