illatiivien

Illatiivien refers to the plural forms of the illative case in Finnish grammar. The illatiivi (illative) is a directional case used to express movement into or toward a destination, answering the question “minne?” (where to). It is commonly used with verbs of motion and with nouns denoting places or things that are entered.

Morphology and forms

The illative is formed by attaching suffixes to the noun stem, with forms varying according to vowel harmony and the stem’s ending. In singular illative, after back vowels the common endings are -oon or -öön (for example taloon, keittiöön), while after front vowels the endings appear as -iin or -iin (for example kotiin). The plural illative shows a slightly different pattern: taloihin, keittiöihin, koteihin, kaupunkeihin illustrate the usual tendency to move toward the plural suffixes -ihin or -eihin depending on the stem. Notable examples include kaupunkiin (to the city) in singular and kaupungeihin (to the cities) in plural.

Usage notes

Illatiivien forms denote entering or heading into something and are used with motion verbs, sometimes with possessive or postpositional elements. They coexist with other directional cases (such as adessive, allative, elative, and elative variants) to describe spatial relationships and movement. Some stems require vowel harmony adjustments or minor spelling changes when forming illatives.

Examples

Menen taloon. I go into the house.

Menen taloihin. I go into the houses.

Menen keittiöön. I go into the kitchen.

Menen keittiöihin. I go into the kitchens.

Menen kaupungiin. I go into the city.

Menen kaupungeihin. I go into the cities.

See also: Finnish grammar, illatiivi.