Ensimmäisissä

Ensimmäisissä is a Finnish word-form used as the inessive plural of the adjective ensimmäinen, meaning “in the first ones” or “in the initial ones.” It functions to modify a plural noun in the inessive case, expressing location or state, such as being within the first group, the initial stages, or early instances.

Morphology and usage: The base is ensimmäinen (the first). To form the inessive plural, the suffix -issä is added, yielding ensimmäisissä. This form is used when the noun it describes is plural and in the inessive case, for example: ensimmäisissä vaiheissa (in the initial stages), ensimmäisissä tapauksissa (in the first cases), ensimmäisissä tiloissa (in the initial locations). The noun that follows is often explicit, but in some contexts ensimmäisissä can stand with an understood noun from the surrounding text.

Function and nuance: ensimmäisissä conveys a sense of proximity in time or space to the beginning of a sequence, process, or set. It is not a standalone pronoun but a modifier that ties the description to a plural noun in the inessive. The phrase is common in formal and descriptive Finnish, including academic writing, reports, and journalistic contexts.

Translation and equivalents: Depending on context, ensimmäisissä may be rendered as “in the initial ones,” “in the early ones,” or more naturally as “in the initial stages,” “in the early cases,” or “in the first places.” Choice of translation depends on the noun and the overall sense of the sentence.

See also: Finnish grammar, inessive case, Finnish adjectives, noun–adjective agreement.