tomaateilla

Tomaateilla is the adessive plural form of the Finnish noun tomaatti, meaning “on the tomatoes” or “on tomatoes” depending on context. The word is used to indicate location or the recipient of an action in phrases and is commonly encountered in culinary descriptions and recipes, though everyday ingredient lists more often use other grammatical cases.

Etymology and form: Tomaatti is a loanword in Finnish, borrowed from Swedish tomat, which in turn reflects Western European forms for the fruit. The plural adessive form tomaateilla is created by taking the plural stem of tomaatti and adding the adessive suffix -lla/-llä, yielding the meaning “on the tomatoes.”

Usage: Tomaateilla appears in sentences that describe where something is placed or applied. Examples include phrases like “Lisää kastike tomaateille” meaning “Add sauce onto the tomatoes,” or “Levitettiin kastike tomaateille,” meaning “The sauce was spread onto the tomatoes.” The form can also occur in more descriptive or poetic writing to indicate garnish or treatment directed at tomatoes. In everyday Finnish, recipes more commonly list ingredients in the partitive or genitive, while tomaateilla is more often found in instructional, culinary, or descriptive contexts.

See also: tomaatti, tomaatit, Finnish locative and allative/adessive case forms. The use of tomaateilla illustrates how Finnish uses case endings to specify spatial relations and recipients in practical language such as cooking instructions.