The allative

1. Use

1.1. In situations where you would use the adessive (-lla), you can use the allative (-lle) when you want to say you come ONTO something or somewhere

1.2. With certain verbs

Finnish has a thing called verb rections. This means that when you are using a certain verb, the words connected to it will have to be in a specific case.

2. Formation

If you're paying attention, you will notice that the -lle ending is added to exact same form of the word as -ssa, -sta -lla and -lta!

2.1 Words ending in a single vowel (-a/-ä, -u/-y, -o/-ö): add -lle
Nominative Allative Nominative Allative Nominative Allative
kala kalalle tyyny tyynylle talo talolle
seinä seinälle työ työlle melu melulle

2.2. Consonant gradation

Wordtype A
Nominative Allative Nominative Allative Nominative Allative
tyttö tytölle pankki pankille puku puvulle
pöytä pöydälle hattu hatulle kauppa kaupalle
silta sillalle kampa kammalle hiekka hiekalle
           

Wordtype B
Nominative Allative Nominative Allative Nominative Allative
savuke savukkeelle opas oppaalle keitin keittimelle
tavoite tavoitteelle rakas rakkaalle hammas hampaalle
soitin soittimelle puhallin puhaltimelle allas altaalle

2.3. Words ending in -e: add an extra e before the -lle
Nominative Allative Nominative Allative Nominative Allative
huone huoneelle perhe perheelle kappale kappaleelle
kirje kirjeelle lentokone lentokoneelle taide taiteelle
parveke parvekkeelle koe kokeelle aste asteelle

2.4. Words ending in -nen: replace the -nen with -se before the -lle
Nominative Allative Nominative Allative Nominative Allative
nainen naiselle hevonen hevoselle suomalainen suomalaiselle
eteinen eteiselle iloinen iloiselle ihminen ihmiselle
sininen siniselle toinen toiselle tavallinen tavalliselle

2.5. Words ending in -i
2.5.1. New words ending in -i: add -lle
Nominative Allative Nominative Allative Nominative Allative
banaani banaanille paperi paperille kahvi kahville
pankki pankille posti postille maali maalille
tili tilille adverbi adverbille dollari dollarille

New words are words that haven't been around for ages yet. Usually they're recognizable because they're a loanword, like "pankki" for "bank", or "paperi" for "paper".


2.5.2. Old words ending in -i: replace -i- with e and add -lle
Nominative Allative Nominative Allative Nominative Allative
suomi suomelle ovi ovelle järvi järvelle
kivi kivelle suuri suurelle nimi nimelle
pieni pienelle lehti lehdelle pilvi pilvelle

Old words are very often nature words. After all, nature has been around for so long that Finns have had names for them since the very beginning. Some words are confusing, for example "äiti" (mother) is actually a new Finnish word!


2.5.3. Words ending in -si: replace -si- with -de and add -lle
Nominative Allative Nominative Allative Nominative Allative
uusi uudelle vuosi vuodelle käsi kädelle
kuukausi kuukaudelle vesi vedelle reisi reidelle

2.6. Words ending in a consonant: here
Related grammar
Wordtype B words : Examples of the plurals : Placenames in location cases :
Specific location case uses :
Long words in plural cases : Plural location cases