Elatiivin

Elatiivin is the elative case in Finnish grammar, commonly referred to by its native name elatiivi. The elative marks origin, source, or movement away from something and is one of the Finnic local cases. In English this meaning is typically conveyed by from or out of.

In Finnish, the elative is formed with suffixes that follow vowel harmony. In the singular, the usual ending is -sta or -stä, and in the plural -ista or -istä. The exact form depends on the stem of the word. Examples: talosta (from the house), vedestä (from the water), koulusta (from the school). Plural: taloista (from the houses), vesistä (from the waters), kouluista (from the schools). Some nouns exhibit stem changes or irregularities, but the general pattern remains.

The elative answers questions such as mista? or mistä? meaning “from where?” It is commonly used with verbs of movement or origin, but also to express the source of a material, cause, or basis in various constructions. Personal pronouns follow the same pattern: minusta (from me), sinusta (from you), meistä (from us).

Relation to other cases is important: elatiivin is distinct from illatiivi (into), inessiivi (in), and other locative cases, each serving different directional or locative functions. In addition to everyday Finnish, the concept of an elative case exists in other Finnic languages with analogous suffixes and meanings, though form and usage may vary.

In linguistic discussion, elatiivin (the elative) is typically described as part of the set of local cases that express spatial relations and source, contributing to a precise expression of movement, origin, or material source within sentences.