kaukaisissa

Kaukaisissa is the inessive plural form of the Finnish adjective kaukainen, meaning distant or far away. It is used to describe a plural noun in the inessive case, indicating that something exists or occurs “in distant” places or times. In practice, kaukaisissa appears at the start of a noun phrase and must agree with the noun in both number and case. Common examples include kaukaisissa maailmoissa (in distant worlds) and kaukaisissa galakseissa (in distant galaxies).

Etymology and form: The adjective kaukainen derives from the stem kauka- with the suffix -inen, related to the Finnish adverb kauas meaning far. The inessive plural ending -issa attaches to the adjective to align with a following plural noun in the same case, so the phrase remains grammatically coherent across contexts.

Usage: Kaukaisissa is widely used in descriptive Finnish, particularly in literary and scientific contexts, to evoke remoteness in space or time. It is typically paired with plural nouns in the inessive case, such as maailman (worlds), galakseet (galaxies), tai ajat (times). The form itself is not a standalone word but a grammatical inflection of kaukainen.

Related forms: The base adjective is kaukainen; related degrees include kaukaisempi (distant-er) and kaukaisin (most distant). The corresponding singular inessive form is kaukaisessa, and the related noun kaukaisuus expresses the concept of remoteness.

See also: Finnish adjectives, Finnish inflection, remoteness in language, literary Finnish.