This is the page to bookmark. Once you understand why harmony works, what you actually need day to day is a single consolidated table: which endings come in two shapes, which shape goes with a back-vowel word versus a front-vowel word, and — the part most references bury — which endings never change at all. English speakers tend to make two opposite mistakes: they forget to harmonize the endings that do alternate (writing *kylässa for kylässä), and they invent front variants of endings that don't (writing *kyläksä instead of kyläksi). Knowing the invariant column cures both.
Throughout, we use two model words: talo (house, a back-vowel word) and kylä (village, a front-vowel word).
The alternating endings
These endings have a back shape (with a/o/u) and a front shape (with ä/ö/y). You pick the shape to match the word's harmony class.
| Case / element | Back shape | Front shape | talo (back) | kylä (front) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inessive (in) | -ssa | -ssä | talossa | kylässä |
| Elative (out of) | -sta | -stä | talosta | kylästä |
| Adessive (on/at) | -lla | -llä | talolla | kylällä |
| Ablative (off/from) | -lta | -ltä | talolta | kylältä |
| Partitive | -a / -ta | -ä / -tä | taloa | kylää |
| Illative (into) | -Vn (-on…) | -Vn (-än…) | taloon | kylään |
| Essive (as) | -na | -nä | talona | kylänä |
| Abessive (without) | -tta | -ttä | talotta | kylättä |
| Question clitic | -ko | -kö | talossako | kylässäkö |
| Emphatic clitic | -han / -pa | -hän / -pä | talohan | kylähän |
Asun pienessä kylässä, mutta töissä käyn kaupungissa.
I live in a small village but I go to work in the city.
Muutimme juuri isompaan taloon järven rantaan.
We just moved into a bigger house on the lakeshore.
Tulin juuri kylästä bussilla.
I just came from the village by bus.
Onko kylässä enää lainkaan kauppaa?
Is there any shop at all left in the village?
The invariant endings
Here is the payoff that prevents over-application. Several very common endings contain only the neutral vowels e and i, or a fixed vowel, and therefore have no front/back alternation at all. They look identical on a back-vowel word and a front-vowel word.
| Case / element | Ending (fixed) | talo (back) | kylä (front) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genitive (of) | -n | talon | kylän |
| Allative (onto/to) | -lle | talolle | kylälle |
| Translative (into/becoming) | -ksi | taloksi | kyläksi |
| "also / too" | -kin | talokin | kyläkin |
| Adverb ending | -sti | (nopeasti) | (hitaasti) |
The two that catch learners out most are the allative -lle and the translative -ksi. They feel like they should have front partners — surely kylä takes something with ä? — but they do not. There is no *-llä-as-allative and no *-ksä. Both are -lle and -ksi on every word in the language.
Laita avaimet pöydälle, älä lattialle.
Put the keys on the table, not on the floor.
Opiskelen kääntäjäksi ja siskoni lääkäriksi.
I'm studying to become a translator and my sister to become a doctor.
Minäkin haluan kyläänkin — ottakaa minutkin mukaan!
I want to come to the village too — take me along as well!
Neutral-only words take the front alternant
What about a word whose only vowels are the neutral e and i — like kivi (stone), meri (sea), or nimi (name)? On the alternating endings, these words behave as front-vowel words: they take -ssä, -llä, -stä, and so on. There is no back vowel to pull the ending back, and Finnish resolves the tie toward the front.
| Word (all neutral) | Inessive | Adessive | Partitive |
|---|---|---|---|
| kivi (stone) | kivessä | kivellä | kiveä |
| nimi (name) | nimessä | nimellä | nimeä |
Nimessäsi on kaunis merkitys.
Your name has a beautiful meaning.
Astuin paljain jaloin terävään kiveen.
I stepped barefoot onto a sharp stone.
A note on the illative
The illative (into) alternates, but it is the odd one out in shape. Instead of a fixed consonant ending, it lengthens the word's final vowel and adds -n — so its harmony is carried by that repeated vowel rather than by an -a/-ä you attach. That is why talo gives taloon and kylä gives kylään: the ending simply echoes the vowel already there, and an all-neutral word does the same (kivi → kiveen). You never choose a back-or-front shape for the illative yourself; it falls out of the stem. The other illative shapes (-hVn, -seen) for longer stems are covered on the illative formation page.
Lähdemme huomenna kylään mummolaan.
Tomorrow we're heading to the village, to grandma's place.
How to decide any ending in three steps
When you meet a new word and need to attach an ending, run this quick procedure:
- Is the ending invariant? If it is the genitive -n, allative -lle, translative -ksi, -kin, or adverbial -sti, stop — the shape never changes. Attach it as-is.
- If it alternates, find the word's class. Scan the stem: does it contain any back vowel (a/o/u)? If yes, use the back shape (-ssa, -lla, -sta…). If it has only front vowels (ä/ö/y), use the front shape (-ssä, -llä, -stä…).
- Only neutral vowels (e/i)? Default to the front shape. kivi → kivessä, nimi → nimellä.
This is the whole system. The alternating table tells you the two shapes; steps 1–3 tell you which to reach for; and the invariant list stops you from harmonizing endings that should stay fixed.
Kirjoitin nimeni paperin yläreunaan.
I wrote my name at the top edge of the paper.
Common Mistakes
❌ Asun pienessä kylässa.
Incorrect — the inessive DOES alternate, and kylä is a front word: -ssä.
✅ Asun pienessä kylässä.
I live in a small village. — front inessive -ssä.
❌ Haluan tulla opettajaksä.
Incorrect — the translative -ksi never fronts; there is no -ksä.
✅ Haluan tulla opettajaksi.
I want to become a teacher. — invariant -ksi.
❌ Annan kirjan siskollä.
Incorrect — the allative is the invariant -lle, not a fronted -llä.
✅ Annan kirjan siskolle.
I'll give the book to my sister. — invariant allative -lle.
❌ Kivessa on sammalta.
Incorrect — an all-neutral word (kivi) takes the FRONT alternant.
✅ Kivessä on sammalta.
There's moss on the stone. — neutral stem → front -ssä.
Key Takeaways
- Alternating endings have two shapes; match -ssa/-lla/-sta… to a back word and -ssä/-llä/-stä… to a front word.
- The genitive -n, allative -lle, translative -ksi, clitic -kin, and adverb -sti are invariant — identical on back and front words.
- Do not invent front partners for -lle or -ksi; they do not exist.
- All-neutral words (only e/i, like kivi, nimi) take the front alternant.
- Bookmark this page: the alternating table plus the invariant list together cover every ending you will meet.
Now practice Finnish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Finnish→Related Topics
- Harmony in Suffixes: -ssa/-ssä, -lla/-lläA1 — Most Finnish case endings come in two shapes (-ssa/-ssä, -lla/-llä); a few, like -n and -ksi, never change. Which alternate, and how to pick.
- Suffix Vowel Pairs: a/ä, o/ö, u/yA2 — Beyond the familiar -a/-ä, Finnish suffixes also alternate o/ö and u/y — the sneaky -tu/-tty participle included. Neutral e and i have no partner.
- Vowel Harmony: How Suffix Vowels Are ChosenA1 — A word's own vowels decide whether its endings take the back (a/o/u) or front (ä/ö/y) shape — one rule running through every suffix in Finnish.
- The Fifteen Cases: A MapA1 — The whole Finnish case system in one view — grammatical, locative interior and exterior, and marginal cases — as a single talo paradigm.
- The Neutral Vowels e and iA2 — Why e and i are transparent: an all-neutral word takes front endings (meressä), but one back vowel anywhere (kahvia) makes the whole word back.