põhjas

Põhjas is the inessive form of the Estonian noun põhi, meaning bottom, base, or origin. It functions as a locative, expressing “in the bottom” or “at the bottom” of something. The suffix -s marks the inessive case after the stem põhi, and it is used with different nouns to indicate the location of objects or phenomena in the lower part of a container, a body of water, or a structure.

In usage, põhjas appears in contexts such as bodies of water, containers, and the lower parts of objects. For example, meri põhjas can be understood as “the bottom of the sea” or “the sea floor,” and kasti põhjas as “at the bottom of the box.” Kalad elavad põhajas can mean “fish live at the bottom [of a body of water].” In narratives, a sentence like laev on põhjas may be used to say that a ship lies at the bottom, i.e., has sunk. The form emphasizes position inside the lower parts rather than at an exterior boundary.

Etymology and related forms: põhi means base or bottom, and the inessive suffix -s creates põhjas. This pattern is common in Estonian for indicating location inside something.

See also: Estonian grammar, inessive case, bottom as a semantic concept in Finnic languages. Note that põhjas is not a proper noun and should not be confused with Põhja, which means “north” and appears in place names and related terms.