instrumentalessive

The instrumentalessive is a grammatical case found in some languages, notably Finnish. It indicates the means, instrument, or agent by which an action is performed. In essence, it answers the question "by what?" or "with what?". For example, in Finnish, "kirjoitan kynällä" translates to "I write with a pen," where "kynällä" is the instrumentalessive form of "kynä" (pen).

This case is distinct from other instrumental-like constructions in various languages. While prepositions like "by" or "with" in English serve a similar function, the instrumentalessive is a morphological case, meaning it is expressed by changing the ending of a noun or pronoun. The presence and specific usage of the instrumentalessive case can vary significantly between languages that feature it. In Finnish, it is one of the many locative cases, which also include the inessive, elative, illative, adessive, ablative, and allative. It expresses a similar concept to the adessive case, but the instrumentalessive specifically emphasizes the agent or instrument.