Illatiivina

Illatiivina is the term used in Finnish grammar to describe the illative form, a local case that marks movement toward a destination or goal. The illative answers the question minne? and corresponds roughly to English into or to. It is part of the system of local cases sometimes described as illative, inessive, elative, allative, adessive, ablative, and translative.

Formation and variation: The illative is a gender- and number-neutral suffixal form attached to the noun stem. In common modern Finnish, the most frequent illative endings are -oon/-öön and -iin. For example, talo becomes taloon, kaupunki becomes kaupunkiin, and koti becomes kotiin. The exact ending chosen depends on the stem’s phonology and spelling conventions. Some stems may require small phonetic adjustments or alternative forms, but -oon/-öön and -iin are the principal patterns encountered in standard usage.

Function and usage: The illative is used with verbs of motion and other constructions that express direction toward a place. It answers questions such as “Where to?” as in “Menen taloon” (I’m going into the house) or “Menen kaupungiin” (I’m going to the city). It contrasts with the inessive, which expresses location “in” or “inside” (e.g., talossa, in the house).

In linguistic descriptions, illatiivina can appear as a label or tag indicating that a form is the illative case. It is most commonly discussed within Finnish grammar and, more broadly, in studies of Finnic languages that feature analogous direction-marking cases. See also Illative case, Finnish grammar, and local cases.