kirjastoon

Kirjastoon is the illative form of the Finnish noun kirjast, meaning the library. It denotes movement toward a place and is used to express the destination of an action, such as going somewhere. In Finnish, the illative suffix -oon (with vowel harmony) is attached to the noun stem, yielding kirjastoon from kirjast-o.

In practice, kirjastoon is used with verbs of motion, such as mennä, käydä, or lähteä. It contrasts with the inessive form kirjastossa, which means “in the library,” and with the genitive kirjaston, which marks possession (the library’s) or acts as the noun’s base in other constructions. For static location or origin you would not use kirjastoon.

Examples:

- Menen kirjastoon etsimään kirjoja. (I’m going to the library to look for books.)

- Oletko menossa kirjastoon? (Are you going to the library?)

- Hän lähti kirjastoon ja palasi myöhään. (She left for the library and returned late.)

Related terms include kirjaston (genitive of kirasto), kirjastossa (in the library), and kirjastosta (from the library). The form kirjastoon is a standard part of everyday Finnish when describing directional movement toward a library, whether in spoken language, signs, or written instructions.