Into Places: The Illative Case (-Vn)
When expressing movement to or into a location, Finnish uses the illative case. For most words ending in a short vowel, you form the illative by lengthening the final vowel and adding -n (referred to as -Vn).
- Viro (Estonia) -> Viroon
- kylä (village) -> kylään
- baari (bar) -> baariin
If you describe the place with an adjective, the adjective must also agree and take the illative ending. Note that some common words ending in -i change their final -i to an -e- before adding the ending.
- pieni (small) -> pieneen
- uusi (new) -> uuteen
| We travel to Estonia, to a small village. | Me matkustamme Viroon, pieneen kylään. |
| He is not at home, because he is flying to Spain today. | Hän ei ole kotona, koska hän lentää tänään Espanjaan. |
| We stay in the new bar in Spain. | Me jäämme uuteen baariin Espanjassa. |
Words Ending in Consonants
Nouns ending in -s undergo a stem change before adding the illative ending. Words like kerros (floor) change to kerrokse- and add -en, while words like tehdas (factory) change to tehtaa- and add -seen.
- kerros -> kerrokseen
- tehdas -> tehtaaseen
| The doctor comes to the new floor. | Lääkäri tulee uuteen kerrokseen. |
| The student goes into the big factory. | Opiskelija menee isoon tehtaaseen. |
Short Words and One-Syllable Roots (-hVn)
For short words ending in a long vowel or a diphthong, such as maa (country), the illative ending is -hVn. The "V" copies the vowel immediately before the -h.
- maa -> maahan
| We travel to a new country. | Me matkustamme uuteen maahan. |
Numbers 21-99
In Finnish, compound numbers like 24 or 59 are written as one single word. You simply combine the tens and the ones.
For example, 24 is kaksikymmentä (twenty) + neljä (four) = kaksikymmentäneljä.
| A ticket to the small village costs 24 euros. | Lippu pieneen kylään maksaa kaksikymmentäneljä euroa. |
| The bill in the bar is 59 euros. | Lasku baarissa on viisikymmentäyhdeksän euroa. |