kiireisillä

Kiireisillä is a Finnish grammatical form that functions as an adjective-based noun referring to a group of people characterized by being busy. It is the adessive plural form of the adjective kiireinen, and it can be used to mean “the busy ones” or “the busy people.” In this sense, kiirea is not a separate lexical item but a specific inflected form of an adjective used pronominally to denote a group.

Morphology and usage

Kiireisillä is formed from kiireinen with the plural adessive suffix -illä. The adessive case marks the referent as the possessor or the group in a spatial or situational sense, such as in sentences describing existential or possession-like relationships with olla. A typical construction is X on Y, expressed as Kiireisillä on Z, meaning “the busy ones have Z.” This can be translated as “the busy people have a lot of work,” or more generally, “the busy ones have….” The form is most natural in descriptive or narrative contexts and is less common in formal writing than the straightforward noun phrase kiireiset ihmiset (“the busy people”).

Nuances and relation to other forms

Kiireisillä emphasizes the state or condition of the group (being busy) and can carry a evaluative nuance, highlighting workload or time pressure. In many contexts, Finnish speakers prefer kiireiset ihmiset or people described as busy when a neutral or more explicit reference is desired. Kiireisillä is therefore favored when the writer wants to refer to the group compactly or in a contextual, possessive sense in existential clauses.

See also

Kiireinen, kiireiset ihmiset, Finnish grammar, adessive case.