ensimmäiselle

Ensimmäiselle is the allative singular form of the Finnish adjective ensimmäinen, meaning "first." It is used when the adjective modifies a noun that is in the allative case, typically to express direction toward something or to specify order in a directed phrase. For example, Kävelimme ensimmäiselle riville means “We walked to the first row,” and Hän meni ensimmäiselle paikalle means “She went to the first place.”

In everyday language, ensimmäiselle appears in phrases with nouns in the allative case, such as riville (to the row), paikalle (to the place), kurssille (to the course), or sijalle (to the position). The adjective agrees with the noun in number and case, so both the noun and the adjective carry the allative ending in a phrase like ensimmäiselle riville or ensimmäiselle paikalle.

Grammatically, ensimmäiselle is the inflected form of ensimmäinen used before a noun in allative. It cannot stand alone as a predicate; its function is to modify a following noun and to indicate direction or target in phrases describing movement or allocation.

Etymology and related forms: ensimmäinen originates from the Finnish ordinal system and is combined with the allative suffix -lle to produce ensimmäiselle when paired with a noun in the allative. Related forms include other allative adjective forms (e.g., toiselle for “to the second”) that agree with the noun they modify.

See also: Finnish grammar, ordinal numbers, allative case, adjective declension.