niillä

Niillä is a Finnish word that functions as the adessive plural form of the third-person pronoun ne (they). In everyday Finnish, niillä is most commonly used in the construction with the verb olla (to have) to express possession. The standard sentence pattern is niillä on <something>, meaning “they have <something>.” For example, Niillä on autoja means “They have cars,” and Niillä on aikaa means “They have time.” In these constructions, the thing possessed is typically in the partitive mood when the quantity is indefinite (for example, autoja) and may take other forms when a specific quantity is stated (such as kaksi autoa in a full clause).

Morphology and usage

Niillä is the adessive plural form tied to the pronoun referencing a plural subject. It marks the possessor in sentences using olla, while the possessed noun is inflected according to standard Finnish rules for number and case. The form is used with both concrete objects (things they own) and abstract quantities (time, money, resources) and is common in spoken and written Finnish.

Related concepts

Niillä is part of a broader system of Finnish possessive constructions that use personal adessive forms (such as minulla, sinulla, hänellä, heillä) in combination with olla to express possession. It is distinct from other case forms used to indicate location or instrumentality in different grammatical contexts.

See also

Finnish grammar, possession in Finnish, adessive case, olla construction, pronouns in Finnish.