Valkoiseen

Valkoiseen is the illative singular form of the Finnish adjective valkoinen, meaning white. In Finnish, adjectives decline to match the noun they modify in case and number, and they do not mark gender. The illative case conveys motion toward or into something, so valkoiseen indicates “into a white [something].”

Use of valkoiseen occurs before a singular noun in the illative. For example: Menen valkoiseen taloon, meaning “I am going into a white house.” Another example is Hän meni valkoiseen huoneeseen, meaning “He/She went into the white room.” These sentences show how the adjective and noun are put in the illative to express direction or movement.

For plural nouns, the illative form changes to valkoisiin. An example is: Menemme valkoisiin taloihin, meaning “We are going into white houses.” This illustrates how the illative plural form agrees with the plural noun it modifies.

Beyond illative forms, Finnish adjectives like valkoinen have other case forms as well (for example, valkoisen in the genitive singular, valkoisten in the genitive plural), reflecting the language’s extensive case system. When describing color without movement, the nominative form valkoinen is typically used (e.g., valkoinen talo = a white house).