Allatiivisuus

Allatiivisuus, or the allative case, is a locative grammatical case in Finnish that marks direction toward a place, destination, or recipient of an action. It answers questions such as to where or toward what. The allative is most commonly realized with the suffix -lle attached to the noun’s stem, and it can express movement toward a location or the recipient of a transfer.

Formation and morphology: The usual allative form is created by adding -lle to the base form of a noun (for example talo → talolle, kauppa → kaupalle). For plural references, the suffix attaches to the plural stem, yielding forms such as taloille or kaupoille to indicate “to the houses” or “to the shops.” Personal pronouns also take the allative ending, as in hänelle (to him/her), minulle (to me), sinulle (to you).

Functions and usage: Allative usage is common with verbs of motion (menen, menemme, lähden) to indicate destination, and with ditransitives to mark recipients in transfers or gifts (annnan lahjan opettajalle, I give the gift to the teacher). It also appears in constructions expressing a directional goal toward places, objects, or people, including place names and familiar nouns.

Examples:

- Mennen koululle. I am going to school. (destination)

- Pöydälle laitan kirjani. I place my book on the table. (onto the surface)

- Annan lahjan opettajalle. I give the gift to the teacher. (recipient)

- Lähetän kirjeen hänelle. I send the letter to him/her. (recipient)

Relation to other locative cases: Allativity contrasts with illative (movement into) and adessive (on/at). While illative marks motion into a space, allative marks towards a surface or destination; adessive indicates location on or at a surface. Together, these cases form a comprehensive system of Finnish directional and locative marking.