llä

llä is the adessive suffix in Finnish grammar, written as -lla or -llä. It marks location on a surface or at a place and, in many contexts, also indicates means or instrument used to perform an action. It is not a standalone word; it attaches to nouns (and certain pronouns) to form a case ending.

Form and vowel harmony. The adessive suffix has two allomorphs: -lla and -llä. The choice depends on vowel harmony: stems with back vowels typically take -lla, while stems with front vowels take -llä. Examples: talo (house) → talolla (at the house); pöytä (table) → pöydällä (on the table); kynä (pen) → kynällä (with a pen); auto (car) → autolla (by car).

Usage. Location: pöydällä on kirja (The book is on the table). Instrument or means: kirjoitan kynällä (I write with a pen). Means of transport: matkustamme autolla (we travel by car). Place names or institutions can also take the adessive: koululla (at school), kaupungilla (in the city).

Notes. The suffix is an inflectional ending rather than a separate word. It often contrasts with other Finnish location cases such as the inessive (-ssa/-ssä) for “in” and the elative (-lta/-ltä) for “from.” Context determines whether -lla/-llä conveys physical location, contact or proximity, or instrumental meaning.

Etymology and typology. The adessive -lla/-llä is one of Finnish’s traditional case endings, descended from Proto-Finnic and shared across Finnic languages. It remains productive in modern Finnish, forming a wide range of everyday expressions.