Elatiivid

Elatiivid are a grammatical category found in some languages, primarily Finnish and Estonian, which are part of the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family. They are essentially a type of adverbial or case ending that describes a state of being or a transition into a state. While they can express a sense of movement or location, their core function is to indicate a change of condition or a resultative state.

In Finnish, the elative case ending is typically "-sta" or "-stä". When used in an elative construction, it often implies a transition from one state to another, rather than simply exiting a physical location. For example, "tulla hulluksi" (to become crazy) uses the elative to show a change of mental state. Similarly, "syntyä sairaasta" (to be born from an illness) indicates the origin or cause of a state.

Estonian also has an elative case, often marked by "-st". It functions similarly to its Finnish counterpart, denoting removal from something or a state of being derived from something. For instance, "saada aru" (to understand, literally "to get sense from") employs the elative to signify the attainment of a mental state. The elative in both languages adds nuance to expressions of origin, cause, and change of condition.