iltapäivän

Iltapäivään is the illative case form of the Finnish noun iltapäivä, meaning “to the afternoon” or “into the afternoon.” In Finnish grammar, the illative case is used to express motion toward a destination or, in some time-related expressions, a point in time that a situation enters or extends into. Therefore, iltapäivään functions as a time-oriented illative form indicating movement into or entry toward the latter part of the day.

The noun iltapäivä itself is a compound of ilta (evening) and päivä (day). It designates the part of the day after noon and before evening light, with usage that often emphasizes the later portion of the day. As with other Finnish time words, the illative form iltapäivään contrasts with other cases that express location, origin, or duration in time, such as iltapäivässä (inessive: in the afternoon) or iltapäivästä (elative: from the afternoon) and iltapäivän (genitive: of the afternoon).

Usage in modern Finnish is mainly grammatical and formal. In everyday speech, speakers commonly rely on adverbs of time like illalla (in the evening) or päivällä (during the day), or on more explicit time references (for example, specifying a clock time). The illative iltapäivään tends to appear in written Finnish, linguistic descriptions, or contexts where precise case forms are worked with, rather than in casual conversation.

Related forms of iltapäivä include iltapäivän (genitive), iltapäivässä (inessive), iltapäivästä (elative), and iltapäivään (illative). See also iltapäivä for the base noun and Finnish case grammar for context.