vailla

See also: väillä

Finnish

Etymology

Originally the adessive form of the root vai-, vaja- of vajaa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɑi̯lːɑ/, [ˈʋɑ̝i̯lːɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑilːɑ
• Hyphenation^(key): vail‧la

Preposition

vailla [with partitive]

1. without, lacking

   olla vailla ― to need (literally, “to be without”)

   vailla suojaa ― without protection, defenseless(ly), unprotected

2. (time) Synonym of vaille (“to, till”).

   viittä vailla kymmenen ― five minutes to ten

Postposition

vailla [with partitive]

1. without (and in need/search of)

   suojaa vailla ― in need of protection, looking for shelter

   Mitä sinä olet vailla?

   What do you want? / What are you looking for?

   (literally, “What are you in need of?”)

Usage notes

• As seen above, this adposition can be used both as a preposition (before the main word) and as a postposition (after the main word), although with a slight change of meaning.

Inflection

→○	allative	vaille
○	adessive	vailla
○→	ablative	–

Synonyms

• (without) ilman, -tta/-ttä (the abessive case suffix, gives the same meaning)

Derived terms

• vaillinainen
• vaillinki

 

Further reading

• “vailla”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-04

Anagrams

• vialla, villaa