kenellä

Kenellä is the adessive form of the Finnish interrogative pronoun kuka (who) and is used to ask about the person who possesses or holds something. It literally means “on whom” and appears in questions about possession or about who has a certain item or resource. It is distinct from other forms of kuka, such as kenelle (to whom) or kenen (whose), which are used in different syntactic contexts.

Grammatical use and forms: Kenellä is used with the verb olla (to have) or other verbs that denote possession or possession-like relations. In a question, you typically say Kenellä on X? (Who has X?). In negative or indefinite contexts, forms like kenelläkään are used to mean “nobody” or “anyone at all,” as in Kenelläkään ei ole aikaa (Nobody has time). Other related forms of the same pronoun include kuka (nominative), kenen (genitive: whose), and kenelle (allative: to whom). These forms serve different functions in questions and clauses.

Examples:

- Kenellä on avain? — Who has the key?

- Kenelläkään ei ole aikaa. — Nobody has time.

- Kenen auto on? — Whose car is it? (note genitive kenen, used for asking ownership)

- Kenelle pitäisi antaa lahja? — To whom should the gift be given?

Notes: Kenellä specifically marks the possessor in questions about who holds something, while kenen is used for “whose” questions involving ownership of a thing. The choice of form depends on the grammatical role (possession, attribution) and the main verb in the clause.