järvissä

järvissä is the inessive plural form of the Finnish noun järvi (lake). It translates to “in the lakes” and is used to describe location inside multiple lakes. In Finnish, the inessive case expresses “inside” or “within,” and the plural form is used when referring to more than one lake.

Form and related forms: The singular inessive is järvessä (in the lake); the nominative plural is järvet (the lakes). The inessive plural järvissä is formed by adding the inessive plural ending -issä to the plural base.

Usage: The form is common in geography, ecology, travel writing, and everyday speech when talking about lakes collectively, for example in references to ecosystems, water quality, or activities that take place within lakes. It denotes location within multiple bodies of water without using a preposition.

Examples:

- Kalat ja vesikasvit elävät järvissä.

- Monin paikoin järvissä nähdään sorsia ja muita vesieläimiä.

Notes: järvissä contrasts with järvessä (in the lake) to indicate a location shared by more than one lake. Like other Finnish inessive forms, järvissä does not require prepositions to express location, reflecting Finnish’s case-based approach to spatial relations.