illatiiviksi

Illatiiviksi refers to the illative case in Finnish grammar, a morphological form used to express movement or direction into something, equivalent to the English “into” or “to.” It answers questions such as “Where to?” in contexts of entering or heading toward a location.

Formation and patterns: The illative is formed by attaching a suffix to the noun stem, with variations that depend on vowel harmony and the final sound of the stem. In practice this yields forms such as -oon, -öön, -uun, -iin, or -eeseen, among others. Examples include taloon (into the house), kotiin (to the home), kaupungiin (to the city), and veneeseen (into the boat). The exact suffix chosen reflects the stem’s vowels and phonological rules of Finnish, and the illative can change when the noun is pluralized.

Usage: The illative is used with verbs of motion to indicate movement toward or into a destination. It commonly follows verbs like mennä (to go), tulla (to come), asettaa (to place toward), and similar constructions: menen taloon (I’m going into the house). In everyday language, illative forms are productive across concrete places, buildings, and locations, as well as more abstract destinations. The illative contrasts with the inessive (being in) and the translative (becoming or turning into), which express different relationships to a place or state.

Plural and variation: In plural references, illative forms follow analogous patterns, typically aligning with the plural stem and vowel harmony, yielding forms such as taloihin (into the houses) or koteihin. As with other Finnish cases, illative forms may show alternations in spoken language, but the standard written forms follow the established illative suffix patterns.

See also: Finnish case system, movement verbs in Finnish.