ilattiivi

Ilillatiivi, commonly written illatiivi or illative in Finnish grammar, is a case that marks movement toward or into a destination. It answers the question minne? (where to?) and is part of the system of locative cases in Finnish, together with inessive (inside), elative (out of), adessive, allative, translative and others. The illatiivi is primarily used with verbs of motion to indicate direction or destination, rather than a static location.

The illatiivi is formed by attaching different suffixes to the noun stem. The exact form depends on the stem’s phonology, including vowel harmony and consonant changes, so you will encounter several allomorphs such as taloon, kotiin, kaupungiin, and tuoliin. For example, talo (house) becomes taloon (into the house), koti (home) becomes kotiin (home, into the home), kaupungin becomes kaupungiin (to the city), and tuoli (chair) becomes tuoliin (into the chair). The same concept applies across nouns with different final sounds, yielding a variety of illatiivi endings.

Usage notes: The illatiivi is most common with verbs of motion such as mennä (to go), tulla (to come), lähteä (to depart), and other verbs that describe movement toward a place or object. It can also appear in expressions describing direction or purpose, sometimes in combination with postpositions to clarify the route or destination. In non-motion contexts, other cases or adverbs are used instead.

In summary, the illatiivi is a Finnish case that encodes directional movement into a place or object, with multiple surface forms shaped by the stem and phonology. It is essential for expressing where someone or something is headed.