Allatiivinen

Allatiivinen, or the allative case, is a grammatical case used in Finnish to mark direction toward something or to indicate a recipient of an action. It is part of the system of locative cases in Finnish, which express various locations and directions. The allative typically answers questions such as “to where?” or “for whom?” in the sense of destination or beneficiary.

Morphology and forms are built around the suffix -lle attached to the noun stem. For example, koululle means “to the school,” talolle means “to the house.” Personal pronouns have fixed allative forms: minulle (to me), sinulle (to you), hänelle (to him/her), meille (to us), teille (to you all), heille (to them). The allative can also express the recipient in sentences with verbs of transfer, such as antaa (to give): Annan kirjan hänelle (I give the book to him/her).

Usage and meaning are closely related to movement toward a goal or beneficiary, and the allative is commonly used with verbs of motion or transfer. It is distinct from the illative, which marks movement into a space (for example, taloon means into the house, whereas talolle means to the house). In modern Finnish, the allative often coexists with other cases, and its choice can depend on nuance and conventional usage.

Cross-linguistically, the allative is a recognized grammatical category in Finnish grammar and appears in closely related Finnic languages under similar functions, though the exact forms and usage can vary.