neljillä

Neljillä is the adessive plural form of the Finnish numeral neljä and is used to express “with four” in phrases where the noun it modifies is in the adessive case. It denotes accompaniment, means, or a group size, and it typically attaches to a plural noun such as käsillä, pyörillä, pelaajilla, or äänillä. The construction is common in descriptive or technical language, when the emphasis is on the number of items or participants involved.

Grammatically, neljillä reflects how numerals behave like adjectives in Finnish: it agrees with the noun in number (plural) and case. The adessive plural suffix -llä/-illä is added to neljä to form neljillä, and the noun that follows is in the adessive plural as well (for example käsillä, pyörillä, pelaajilla, äänillä). This form is especially used when the number is a salient aspect of the situation, such as equipment, actions, or groups.

Usage notes: neljillä tends to appear in descriptive, technical, or situational contexts rather than in everyday casual speech. It is most natural when the speaker wants to highlight the fact that four units or four people are involved or used as a means.

Examples of common collocations include neljillä käsillä (with four hands), neljillä pyörillä (on four wheels), neljillä pelaajilla (with four players), and neljillä äänillä (with four voices). In many everyday sentences, speakers may opt for less inflectional phrasing, depending on style and register.

See also: Finnish numeral declension, adessive case, Finnish grammar.