Allatiivissa

Allatiivissa refers to the allative case in Finnish grammar. The allative expresses direction toward or onto a goal, surface, or recipient. It is commonly used with verbs of motion, transfer, or giving, and with recipients in ditransitive constructions.

Formation and basics

In Finnish, the allative is formed by adding the suffix -lle to a noun or pronoun stem. Examples include torille (to the square), koululle (to the school), minulle (to me), sinulle (to you), and opettajalle (to the teacher). The allative marks destination or target and answers questions such as minne? (where to?) in contexts involving movement or transfer.

Usage

- Direction or destination: Menen torille. I am going to the square.

- Onto a surface: Laitan kirjan pöydälle. I put the book onto the table.

- Recipient or beneficiary: Annetaan se opettajalle. It is given to the teacher.

The allative contrasts with other locative cases, such as the adessive (on/at), illative (into), and elative (out of). It also differs from the illative in that it does not inherently imply entering a space, but rather moving toward or onto a target.

Notes

The form varies for plural nouns, but the general function remains directing toward or toward a recipient. The allative is one of several locative cases used in Finnish to express spatial and directional relations, and it frequently appears with pronouns, proper nouns, and common nouns in everyday speech.

See also

Finnish grammar, locative cases, illative, adessive, inessive, elative.