neljän

Neljään is the illative case form of the Finnish cardinal number neljä (four). In Finnish, numerals decline similarly to adjectives, and neljä has several case forms. The illative form neljään is used to express movement toward or into a quantity of four when the numeral accompanies a noun in the illative case, typically in contexts involving division, grouping, or movement.

In practical usage, neljään often appears with a following noun in illative to indicate “into four …” or “to four …” For example, in a sentence about separating items into four groups: Tutkimus jaettiin neljään ryhmään (The study was divided into four groups). Here neljään modifies ryhmään to specify the target quantity of groups. The illative forms for numerals 1–5 commonly include yhteen, kahteen, kolmeen/kolmeen, neljään, viiteen, illustrating how the numeral participates in the illative with different nouns.

Neljään is part of the broader Finnish system of inflecting numerals for case and number, and its exact form is determined by the illative pattern of the numeral and the following noun. While illative usage with numerals is relatively common in written and formal Finnish, it appears less frequently in everyday speech unless the context explicitly involves counting, distribution, or movement towards a quantity.

Pronunciation is roughly indicated by the spelling neljään, with a short, clear stress on the first syllable and the characteristic Finnish vowels and consonants. For further details, see Finnish grammar and sections on the illative case and numeral declension.