Kellä

Kellä is a colloquial Finnish interrogative form that is used mainly in spoken language to mean “with whom” or, in possession questions, “who has.” It is essentially a contraction or informal variant of the standard kenellä. In everyday speech, speakers often drop the -ne- from kenellä and keep the adessive ending -llä, producing kellä.

Usage and register

Kellä occurs in informal conversation and casual writing. It is widely understood by Finnish speakers across regions, but it is not considered appropriate for formal writing or official contexts. When clarity or formality is required, kenellä is preferred.

Morphology and function

Kellä performs the same grammatical function as kenellä in questions about possession or association with someone: “Kenellä on X?” means “Who has X?” and “Kellä on tämä kirja?” means the same thing with a more colloquial tone. The form retains the adessive -llä to indicate possession or association, matching the standard kenellä’s role in the sentence.

Examples

- Kenellä on tämä kirja? (Who has this book?)

- Kellä on avain? (Who has the key? / Colloquial: Who’s got the key?)

- Kellä olen sukua? (Colloquial, meaning “With whom do I have [this] relation?”; more common in standard Finnish would be “Kenen kanssa olen sukua?”)

Related terms

- Kenellä: the standard form of the same interrogative meaning.

- Kuka, kuka?: related interrogatives for “who,” used in different cases and contexts.

- Kenelle, kenellä, kenen: various inflected forms used in formal Finnish.

Notes for learners

If aiming for neutral or formal tone, use kenellä. Kellä is virtually interchangeable in meaning in everyday speech but signals informal registers.