Illatiiviset

Illatiiviset refers to the illative forms in Finnish grammar. The illative is a locative case used to express movement into a location or destination, essentially answering the question “where to?” in the sense of going toward or into something. It is formed by attaching a suffix to the noun stem, with variations that depend on vowel harmony and sometimes the phonological shape of the stem.

Common illative forms appear in everyday words, for example taloon (into the house), maahan (into the ground), kouluun (into the school), kaupungiin (into the city), and hotelliin (into the hotel). These forms are used with verbs of motion such as mennä (to go), tulla (to come), or päästä (to reach). The illative contrasts with related locative cases such as the inessive (talossa, in the house) and the elative (talosta, out of the house), which express location inside and movement away from a place, respectively.

In Finnish, illatiiviset forms are primarily noun endings rather than prepositional phrases, and they reflect a system of five or more locative cases depending on analysis. They interact with other grammatical features, including noun stems that undergo consonant gradation in some words, and with vowel harmony that influences which illative suffix is chosen for a given stem.

Overall, illatiiviset describe a directional meaning tied to entering or moving toward a destination, and they are a fundamental component of Finnish verb–noun phrase structure for expressing motion.