Välittömässä

Välittömässä is the inessive singular form of the Finnish adjective välitön, which means immediate or direct, i.e., without mediation or delay. As an inflected form, välittömässä is used to modify a noun in the inessive case, indicating spatial or contextual immediacy.

In practice, välittömässä appears in phrases describing proximity or directness. Common examples include talon välittömässä läheisyydessä (in the house’s immediate vicinity) and välittömässä yhteydessä (in direct contact or in direct involvement). The form can pair with various nouns to express immediacy in space, time, or relationship, such as ympäristössä (in the immediate environment) or yhteydessä (in connection with). The English equivalents are typically “in the immediate …” or “direct …,” depending on the context.

Välittömässä contrasts with the adverbial muodosta välittömästi, which means “immediately” and is used to modify verbs rather than nouns. The concept conveyed by välittömässä is primarily qualitative, emphasizing lack of intervening steps or distance rather than merely tempo.

Etymology traces välitön to väli meaning interval or gap, with a formation that yields the sense of “without interval,” i.e., immediate. Related forms include the base adjective välitön and the adverb välittömästi, both sharing the same semantic field of immediacy and directness.