puumaisissa

Puumaisissa is a Finnish inflected form of the adjective puumainen, meaning wooden-like or wood-based. In standard Finnish, puumaisissa is the inessive plural form used to describe plural nouns in the inessive case, for example puumaisissa rakennuksissa (in wooden-like structures) or puumaisissa huoneissa (in wooden-like rooms).

Etymology and morphology

The word is built from the base puu (wood) and the adjectival ending -mainen, yielding puumainen (wooden-like). When describing plural nouns in the inessive case, the adjective takes the ending -issa/-issä, resulting in puumaisissa. The corresponding singular form is puumaisessa (in a wooden-like [thing]), and the nominative plural is puumaiset (wooden-like ones).

Usage

Puumaisissa is primarily found in descriptive or literary contexts, where writers want to evoke texture or material quality. It is used with a following plural noun in the inessive case, forming phrases that translate roughly as “in wooden-like [things/places].” While correct Finnish, the construction can sound somewhat formal or poetic and is less common in everyday speech.

Examples

- Puumaisissa taloissa oli vanha, butiikkimainen tuoksu. (In wooden-like houses there was an old, boutique-like scent.)

- Hän muistutti paikkansa puumaisissa rakennuksissa, joissa kapeat käytävät mutkittelivat. (He recalled his place in wooden-like buildings where narrow corridors twisted.)

See also

Finnish language, adjective declension, inessive case.