Breakdown of Älä mene sisään lenkkarit jalassa!
mennä
to go
sisään
in
jalka
leg / foot
älä
don't (negative imperative)
lenkkari
sneaker
Questions & Answers about Älä mene sisään lenkkarit jalassa!
Why do we use the singular jalassa (in the foot) when talking about a plural pair of sneakers (lenkkarit)?
When describing clothes worn on extremities like hands or feet, Finnish conventionally keeps the body part in the singular even if the clothing item is plural. So you say kengät jalassa (shoes on the foot) or hanskat kädessä (gloves on the hand) instead of using the plural form.
Why is the inessive case (jalassa) used here instead of an external case like jalalla?
For clothing worn on the extremities (feet, hands, head), Finnish uses internal local cases like the inessive (-ssa). You wear a hat päässä (in the head) and shoes jalassa (in the foot). External cases like päällä (on top of) are reserved for clothing worn on the torso or the body in general, such as a jacket or a shirt.
What case is lenkkarit in, and why isn't it in an object case?
Lenkkarit is in the nominative plural. The phrase lenkkarit jalassa acts as a fixed state description (an absolute construction) meaning 'with sneakers on'. It describes the condition of the person acting, rather than being the direct object of the verb mennä (to go), which is an intransitive verb and cannot take a direct object anyway.
Since jalka can mean both foot and leg, how do we know which one it is here?
Context makes it clear. Because lenkkarit are sneakers, jalassa refers to the feet here. If the sentence was about trousers (housut jalassa), the exact same phrase would be used to mean the pants are on your legs.
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