Likaantuneilla

Likaantuneilla is the adessive plural form of the Finnish adjective past participle "likaantunut," meaning dirty or soiled. It functions as a modifier that agrees with a plural noun in the adessive case, typically in descriptive or locational expressions. In Finnish, adjectives and participles decline to match the case and number of the nouns they modify, so "likaantuneilla" accompanies a head noun in the adessive plural. For example, phrases like "likaantuneilla astioilla" mean “on dirty dishes,” and "likaantuneilla käsillä" means “with dirty hands.” The form is used to emphasize dirtiness or the state of objects being dirty at a particular location and appears in both spoken and written Finnish.

Form and usage notes:

- Not a standalone noun; it is a grammatical form of the participle used as an adjective.

- Commonly appears in spatial or descriptive contexts where the attribute of dirtiness applies to multiple items.

- Its occurrence depends on the head noun being in the adessive plural form.

Etymology:

- Derived from the verb "likaantua" (to get dirty) and the past participle "likaantunut" (dirty). The final form changes to agree with the noun it describes in mood, case, and number.

See also: Finnish grammar, participles, adjectives in Finnish.