perheellämme

Perheellämme is a Finnish grammatical form meaning “on our family” or “in our family.” It is formed by combining the possessive suffix -mme (our) with the adessive case suffix -llä (on/at) attached to the noun perhe (family). The base form perheelle (to be on/at the family) becomes perheellä, and when the possessive -mme is added, the result is perheellämme. The double “ll” in the written form reflects phonological assimilation during the combination of suffixes.

Morphology and usage

The adessive -llä marks location or a sense of being on or at something, while -mme marks ownership by the speaker and others in the first-person plural. In practice, perheellämme is used to refer to something that belongs to our family or to describe a situation involving the family as a unit. It is most commonly found in formal, written, or carefully styled language, and can appear with verbs such as on (“has” or “there is”): Perheellämme on kolme autoa (Our family has three cars).

Context and equivalents

Perheellämme is a variant of the more common meidän perheemme (our family) or meidän perheemme in everyday speech. Perheellämme tends to foreground the family as a unit or the family’s possession or location within a formal or narrative context. It is part of standard Finnish possessive and case morphology, and its use aligns with other similar combinations of possessive and adessive suffixes.

See also

Finnish grammar, meidän perheemme, perhe (family), adessive case, possessive suffixes.