Selkeällä

Selkeällä is the adessive singular form of the Finnish adjective selkeä, meaning clear or plain. In Finnish grammar, the adessive case expresses location or state, so selkeällä signals “in a clear [condition]” or “under clear conditions.” The form is used to describe circumstances where visibility, light, or understandability is unobstructed or straightforward.

Usage and contexts: The phrase selkeällä säällä is common in meteorological and descriptive writing, meaning “in clear weather.” For example, Näkyvyys on hyvä selkeällä säällä (Visibility is good in clear weather). Another example is Selkeällä säällä näkee kauas (In clear weather you can see far). Beyond weather, selkeällä can describe other concrete states of clarity, such as a surface or a scene that is easy to perceive. In more figurative contexts, Finnish speakers may prefer adverbs like selvästi to express clarity in communication, while selkeällä emphasizes a concrete condition.

Etymology and morphology: The word is formed from selkeä (clear) plus the adessive suffix -llä, which marks a state or location associated with the noun it modifies. The root selkeä is related to the noun selkeys (clarity) and the broader family of terms describing clarity or plainness.

See also: selkeä, selkeys, selvästi.