kummassakaan

Kummassakaan is a Finnish locative construction used to indicate that a statement does not apply to either of two referenced items. It corresponds to the English phrase “in neither” (of the two). The form is used with nouns in the inessive case and is part of the broader system of kunta and -kan/-kään negation particles in Finnish.

Morphology and forms: The core expression combines the interrogative or distributive element kum- with the negation particle -kaan or -kään, and then attaches to the noun as in other spatial cases. The common combined forms are kummassakin (in both) and kummassakaan (in neither). These forms are followed by a noun in the inessive case, as in kummassakaan kaupungissa (in neither city) or kummassakin kaupungissa (in both cities).

Usage: Kummassakaan is used when negating a statement across two referents. It is often paired with verbs or adjectives in negative clauses and can occur with various nouns and contexts. For example:

- Kummassakaan kaupungissa en ole koskaan käynyt. (I have never been to either city.)

- Kummassakaan vaihtoehdossa ei ollut toimivaa ratkaisua. (In neither option was there a workable solution.)

- Kummassakin kaupungissa on historiallinen kirkko. (There is a historical church in both cities.)

See also: kummankin, kummallinen, kummankin (genitive expressions for two referents), kummankin lisäksi.

Kummassakaan is distinct from kummassakin (in both) and kummankin (of both), reflecting Finnish’s nuanced use of -ka/-kään negation and the two-referent system.