eiihanteellisissa

Ei ihanteellisissa is a Finnish phrase used to express that conditions or circumstances are not ideal. In standard orthography it is written as two separate elements: ei (negation) and ihanteellisissa (the inessive plural form of ihanteellinen, meaning “in ideal conditions”). The form eiihanteellisissa appearing as a single word is generally considered non-standard or typographical; the normal usage maintains a space between ei and ihanteellisissa.

Etymology and grammar: The word ihanteellinen comes from the adjective ihanteellinen, which describes something as ideal. When used with a noun in the inessive plural, it takes the ending -issa: ihanteellisissa, meaning “in (the) ideal conditions.” The negation ei attaches to the predicate, so ei ihanteellisissa modifies the following clause or phrase. The construction is typically incomplete by itself and gains meaning through the surrounding noun phrase, such as olosuhteissa or tilanteissa.

Usage: The phrase is common in descriptive writing, journalism, and academic prose when acknowledging suboptimal conditions. It functions as an adverbial or predicative modifier that notes non-ideality without specifying exact shortcomings. It can occur with various nouns, e.g., olosuhteissa (conditions) or tilanteissa (situations), to situate the statement in a factual context rather than an ideal one.

Examples:

- Toiminta tapahtui ei ihanteellisissa olosuhteissa, mikä hidasti projektin etenemistä.

- Tutkimus sujui ei ihanteellisissa olosuhteissa, kuten meluisassa laboratoriossa.

See also: Finnish negation ei; ihanteellinen; olosuhteet; kielellinen selkeys.