Välissä

Välissä is a Finnish word formed from väli, meaning gap, interval, or space, and the inessive case suffix. It is used to express position or relation in which something lies in the space between two or more objects, or within an interval in time. The form välissä is commonly understood as “in between” or “in the middle of.”

In practice, välissä appears in constructions that name the entities that frame the position. Examples include kahden kaupungin välissä (between two cities), ihmïsten välissä (among the people), autojen välissä (between the cars), and vuoriston ja joen välissä (between the mountain and the river). It can also describe temporal or conceptual ranges, such as vuosien välissä (between years) or tapahtumien välissä (between events). The expression often requires a preceding genitive or possessive phrase to specify the items between which something lies.

Grammatically, välissä is a noun form used in phrases that convey location or relation and typically appears in front of a verb or clause as part of a prepositional phrase. It is important to distinguish välissä from välillä, which is an adverb meaning “sometimes” or “at intervals.” Although both derive from the same root, their meanings and uses are different: välissä indicates position in space or time, while välillä describes frequency or episodic occurrence.

See also: väli, väliä, välit, välilyönti.