Deadlines and limits (asti, saakka, mennessä)

Deadlines with mennessä

When you need to say that something must happen "by" a certain time or deadline, use the postposition mennessä.

The word indicating the deadline takes the illative case (the "into" case, typically ending in a lengthened vowel + n, or -hin/-siin).

Time boundaries with asti and saakka

The postpositions asti and saakka are practically interchangeable. They mean "until" or "up to", and can also mean "since" or "from" depending on the case of the word they follow.

Because these words emphasize a continuous span of time reaching a specific boundary, they always pair with directional cases. To say "until" a certain time, use a "to" case (like the illative).

To say "since" or "from" a certain time, use a "from" case (like the elative, ending in -sta/-stä).

You can easily combine both a starting point and an end point in the same sentence using saakka or asti to cap off the timespan.

Destinations and "at the latest"

When talking about travel or deliveries, you can use the word perille to mean "to the destination".

To emphasize that an event will happen "at the latest" by a certain time, use the adverb viimeistään. It can be used alongside a standard time expression or combined with mennessä for a hard deadline.

Physical limits with asti

Both asti and saakka are not just for time; they also define physical limits in space, meaning "as far as" or "all the way to".

Just like with time, the physical location takes a directional case depending on whether you are talking about the inside of a boundary (the illative) or an outer surface or general area (the allative, ending in -lle).