hammastahnalla

Hammastahnalla is the Finnish adessive form of hammastahna, meaning toothpaste. In Finnish, the adessive case, marked by the suffix -lla or -llä, indicates location or instrument. Therefore hammastahnalla can express being on toothpaste or the use of toothpaste as a means to perform an action, depending on context.

In practice, the most common use of hammastahnalla is to denote the means by which an action is carried out, especially when referring to brushing teeth. For example, in the sentence Hän pesi hampaitaan hammastahnalla, the phrase conveys that the person brushed their teeth using toothpaste.

The word formation is straightforward: base noun hammastahna (toothpaste) plus the adessive suffix -lla to form hammastahnalla. Its pronunciation aligns with Finnish phonology and follows regular inflection rules.

Hammastahnalla is a typical example used in Finnish grammar to illustrate the adessive case’s function in everyday language. It also appears in language learning materials as a clear case of instrument or surface-related usage.

See also: hammastahna, Finnish grammar, adessive case.