rivissä

Rivissä is a Finnish term that denotes being arranged in a line or row. It is formed from the noun rivi, meaning line or row, with the inessive suffix -ssä, so rivissä translates roughly to “in a line” or “in a row.” The word is used to describe objects or people that are positioned side by side or in a sequential order, whether in physical space or in a figurative sense.

In everyday Finnish, rivissä functions as a location expression. It describes how things are arranged and often answers questions about place or arrangement. The form agrees with the context’s subject and the verb; it is commonly used with sentences describing a scene, such as a lineup of objects, people standing in a queue, or items placed along a shelf or in a parking area. Examples include: Autot olivat rivissä parkkipaikalla (The cars were in a row in the parking lot) and Kävelijät seisoivat rivissä kadun varrella (The pedestrians stood in a line along the street). Hyllyllä olevat tavarat olivat rivissä (The items on the shelf were in a row) is another natural usage.

Rivissä can be contrasted with jono, which more specifically emphasizes a queued sequence or waiting line, whereas rivissä highlights horizontal alignment or orderly placement. The term is common in descriptive prose, instruction, and reporting, and does not imply any particular number of items or a fixed arrangement beyond being arranged in a line.

See also: rivi, jono, vierekkäin.