Valoilla

Valoilla is a Finnish word form derived from the noun valo, meaning "light". Grammatically it is the adessive plural (suffix -illa/-illä), a case used to indicate location on or at something and also to express the instrument or means by which an action is done. In literal terms valoilla can be translated as "on the lights", "at the lights" or "with the lights", depending on context.

As an inflected form, valoilla occurs in phrases that refer to multiple light sources or to the use of light as an instrument. For example, kaupungin valoilla can be rendered "in the city's lights" or "by the city's lights", and leikki valoilla may mean "play with the lights". Its meaning is determined by surrounding syntax and common adpositional equivalents in English.

Valoilla appears in everyday speech, descriptive writing and idiomatic expressions related to illumination, atmosphere and visibility. It is commonly used in contexts involving streetlights, decorative lighting and stage or photographic lighting. Compound forms and modifiers often appear, such as jouluvaloilla ("with Christmas lights") or valoilla varustettu ("equipped with lights").

Related forms include the base noun valo, the plural nominative valot, the partitive valoja and other case forms such as valossa ("in the light") and valoista ("from the lights"). The word reflects a regular pattern of Finnish nominal inflection and is typical of how locative and instrumental relations are expressed without separate prepositions.