Allatiivit

Allatiivit, also called the allative, is a grammatical case used in certain languages to mark direction toward a destination, recipient, or beneficiary of an action. It is most commonly described in Finnic languages, where it forms part of a rich system of locative cases. The allative is distinct from cases that indicate location on or in something, and from the illative, which often marks movement into a place.

In Finnish, the allative is typically formed with the suffix -lle attached to a noun or pronoun. Examples include talolle (to the house), koululle (to the school), minulle (to me), hänelle (to him/her), and ystäville (to friends). The allative can indicate destination in motion verbs (going to a place), the recipient of an action (giving something to someone), or the beneficiary of an action (providing something for someone). It contrasts with the adessive, which marks location on a surface (for example pöydällä, on the table).

Usage notes: The allative often appears with verbs of movement, giving, or communication. It can express both singular and plural targets, as in koululle (to the school) and ystäville (to friends).

Cross-linguistic context: In Estonian and some related languages, a similar functional category exists and is expressed with a suffix akin to -le. Other languages may encode the allative with prepositions rather than a dedicated case. The term allative is used in linguistic typology to describe this directional/recipient function across languages.

See also: illative, adessive, inessive, dative.