Painikkeissa

Painikkeissa is the inessive plural form of painike, the Finnish word for button. The form is used to indicate location on or inside more than one button, and it often appears in texts describing devices, clothes, or other objects with multiple buttons. In English this could be rendered as "in the buttons" or "on the buttons," depending on the context.

Grammatical notes: Painikkeissa is formed from the plural noun painikkeet (buttons) plus the inessive suffix -ssa, resulting in painikkeissa. The suffix -ssa/-ssä marks location, roughly equivalent to "in" or "on" in English, with the specific form determined by Finnish vowel harmony. This illustrates how Finnish uses postposed case endings to express spatial relations.

Usage: The phrase is common in technical writing, product descriptions, user manuals, and fashion or textile contexts where multiple buttons are discussed. It can describe the placement of features within a button panel, the physical location of components behind the button area, or the visibility of lighting and indicators within the buttons themselves. For example, a manual might state that LED indicators are located in the buttons: "LED-valot ovat painikkeissa."

Etymology and related forms: The word stems from painike (button). Related forms include painike (singular), painikkeet (plural nominative), and various case forms such as painikkeessa (singular inessive) or painikkeita (partitive). In Finnish, similar inessive constructions exist for other noun stems, illustrating the language’s system of postpositional case endings.