ensimmäisessä

Ensimmäisessä is a Finnish inessive singular form of the ordinal adjective ensimmäinen, meaning “the first.” It is used to indicate location or situation involving the first item or position, and it appears when the noun it modifies is in the inessive case (in, inside, or within the first [something]).

In ordinary usage, ensimmäisessä is paired with a noun in the inessive case to specify what is “in the first” of something. For example, in kappaleessa: ensimmäisessä kappaleessa means “in the first paragraph,” and in luvussa: ensimmäisessä luvussa means “in the first chapter.” The form reflects Finnish grammar where adjectives agree with the noun in case and number. The corresponding forms include ensimmäisessä, ensimmäisessä, or ensimmäisissä depending on number and case. The adverbial form ensimmäiseksi is used to express “as the first” in a sequence or in a comparison, but it is not the same as ensimmäisessä.

Grammatically, ensimmäinen behaves like other adjectives ending in -inen and inflects to match the noun it modifies. When the noun is plural, the form becomes ensimmäisissä (in the first ones). The word is most commonly encountered in writing and formal contexts, especially in references to sections, chapters, or steps where a specific order is being described.

Related terms include ensimmäinen (the base ordinal meaning “first”) and other ordinals such as toinen (second) and kolmas (third). Understanding ensimmäisestä requires recognizing its dependence on a following noun in the inessive case and its role in marking position within a sequence.