Kuolleisiin

Kuolleisiin is a Finnish grammatical form meaning “to the dead” or “to the deceased” when the adjective or past participle kuollut is used to refer to deceased people. It is the illative plural form, which in Finnish marks direction or movement toward multiple individuals or groups. The base form kuollut comes from the verb kuolla, “to die,” and functions as a participle that can be nominalized or used as an adjective.

In addition to kuolleisiin, related forms exist for other cases and numbers. For example, the illative singular is kuolleeseen, the allative plural (to/for the dead) is kuolleille, and the nominative plural is kuolleet. The genitive singular is kuolleen, and the genitive plural is kuolleiden. Finnish inflection relies on patterns like these to express nuances of number, case, and grammatical role without prepositions.

Usage of kuolleisiin is most common in formal, liturgical, memorial, or historical writing. It carries a solemn, ceremonial register and is less typical in everyday speech, where more direct terms or simpler constructions may be preferred. It often appears in phrases related to rites, prayers, or commemorations addressed to or about the deceased, such as contexts discussing memorials or religious observances for the dead.

Etymology and morphology: kuolleisiin derives from kuollut, itself from kuolla, and illustrates how Finnish uses participial forms as nominal or adjectival nouns with extensive case endings to convey precise meanings.

See also: kuollut, kuolleet, kuolleiden, kuolleisuus.