pieniin

Pieniin is the plural illative form of the Finnish adjective pieni, meaning small. In Finnish, the illative case expresses movement toward or into something, and in a noun phrase the illative plural suffix -iin is attached to the noun. When an adjective precedes the noun, the adjective also inflects for the same illative plural form, yielding pieniin taloihin, which means into small houses.

Morphology and examples: Adjectives in Finnish agree with the nouns they modify in number and case. In the plural illative, the noun takes the illative plural ending -iin (for example taloihin), and the adjective taking the same illative plural form becomes pieniin, resulting in phrases like pieniin taloihin (into small houses) or pieniin laatikoihin (into small boxes).

Usage and notes: Pieniin appears primarily in contexts describing movement into or toward small objects or groups, and it sings in harmony with the noun it modifies. It is a standard part of Finnish grammar and can occur in descriptive writing, poetry, or any construction requiring an illative plural with a size attribute. In everyday speech, speakers rely on the same grammatical rules, but the exact word form is determined by the noun it accompanies.

See also: Finnish grammar, Illative case, Adjective inflection, Pieni.