työkaluissa

Työkaluissa is the inessive plural form of the Finnish noun työkalu, meaning tools. The word indicates location inside a group of tools or within the interior of several tools. In Finnish grammar, työkalu is a compound of työ (work) and kalu/kalut in older usage, and its plural is työkalut. The inessive plural suffix -issa/-issä is added to the plural stem to form työkaluissa, reflecting a location “in the tools.”

Use and meaning

Työkaluissa is used when describing where something is located relative to a collection of tools or inside a toolbox that contains tools. It emphasizes being inside the tools rather than outside or beside them. It can refer to physical location, such as objects stored within a tool set, or to a broader sense of being within the domain of tools.

Example

Ruuvimeisselit olivat työkaluissa. (The screwdrivers were in the tools / in the toolbox.)

Related forms

- Työkalussa: in the tool (singular inessive)

- Työkalujen: of the tools (genitive plural)

These forms illustrate how Finnish uses different case endings to indicate location and possession related to tools.

Etymology and context

Työkalu is a native Finnish compound, with työ meaning work and kal(u) meaning instrument or implement. The term appears in everyday language when discussing workshops, construction, and organization of equipment.