Vesillä

Vesillä is a Finnish term that represents the adessive plural form of vesi, meaning on the waters. It is used to describe location or movement that takes place on bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, or seas. The expression is common in nautical, recreational, and transport contexts, especially when talking about boating, sailing, or fishing. In everyday language, vesillä often appears in phrases that convey being on the water or traveling by water.

Grammatical details and usage are straightforward for Finnish learners: vesillä is the adessive plural of vesi, used when referring to multiple bodies of water or to water in a collective sense. By contrast, vedellä is the singular adessive form meaning on the water (referring to a single surface, such as a specific lake or sea). The illative form vesille means into or onto the waters and is used with verbs like mennä vesille, meaning to go out on the water. The plural form vesillä is thus not interchangeable with vedellä in every context; it reflects plurality or a general sense of waters.

Examples include: Koko perhe suuntasi vesille viikonlopuksi. (The whole family headed out on the water for the weekend.) Vene lipui rauhallisesti vesillä. (The boat glided on the water.) Matkustamme vesillä halki saariston. (We are traveling by water through the archipelago.) Vesillä appears frequently in maritime and leisure discourse and is part of a broader set of Finnish terms describing surface water and activities on it.

See also: vesi, vedet, vedellä, vesille.