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Finnish

### The Elative Case (-sta/-stä)

The elative case expresses movement **out of** or **from** a place. You form it by attaching the suffix **-sta** or **-stä** to a word.

Follow standard vowel harmony: use **-stä** if the word contains front vowels (*ä, ö, y*), and **-sta** if it contains back vowels (*a, o, u*). Words with only neutral vowels (*e, i*) take **-stä**.

### Asking "Where from?"

To ask where someone is coming from or where they are from, use the question word **mistä** (where from), which itself has the elative **-stä** ending.

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You can combine *mistä* with a noun in the elative case to ask "from what...?" or "what... from?"

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### Leaving and Finding

Use the elative case with verbs of movement away from a place, such as *lähteä* (to leave) or *tulla* (to come).

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Interestingly, Finnish also uses the elative case with the verb *löytää* (to find). While in English you find something *in* a place, in Finnish you discover it *out of* a place!

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### Liking Things

The verb *pitää* (to like) requires the thing you like to be in the elative case. 

Any adjectives or pronouns modifying the noun must also take the **-sta/-stä** ending. For example, *tämä* (this) becomes *tästä*, and *tuo* (that) becomes *tuosta*.

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The elative case (-sta/-stä)

adjective

adposition

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

postposition

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstrative pronouns (tämä, tuo, se)

Singular personal pronouns (minä, sinä, hän)

Plural personal pronouns (me, te, he)

Plural demonstratives (nämä, nuo, ne)

Coordinating conjunctions (ja, mutta, tai)

Yes/no questions (-ko / -kö)

Basic question words (kuka, mikä, missä)

Negation of to be (en ole, ei ole)

The inessive case (-ssa / -ssä)

Double consonant gradation (kk, pp, tt)

Consonant gradation (-ssa/-ssä)

Verb Type 1 (puhun, puhut, puhuu)

Verb Type 1 with consonant gradation

Negative verbs (en puhu, et lue)

External location (-lla/-llä)

There is / there are (kaupungissa on)

Possession (minulla on)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yksi, kaksi, kolme)

The partitive singular (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Quantities with numbers (kaksi autoa)

Negative possession (ei ole)

Numbers 11 to 100 and 1000

Partitive verbs

Partitive personal pronouns (minua, sinua)

Verb Type 2 (-da/-dä)

Partitive for mass nouns (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Partitive for negative objects

Adjective agreement

Verb Type 3

Negative possession (minulla ei ole…)

The illative case (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Numbers 21 to 99

Static vs. movement verbs

Verb Type 4 (-Vta / -Vtä)

Verb Type 5 (-ita / -itä)

Genitive singular for possession (-n)

Total object (-n)

Accusative personal pronouns (-t)

Obligation (täytyy)

Into places (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Postpositions with the genitive

My and your (-ni, -si)

Onto and to someone (-lle)

From someone or somewhere (-lta, -ltä)

Telling time (kello on...)

Months of the year (-ssa, -ssä)

Days of the week (-na, -nä)

When and why (milloin, miksi)

The illative case (mihin, -Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Past tense of to be (olin, olit, oli)

The seasons (kevät, kesä, syksy, talvi)

The imperative mood (lue!, syö!, mene!)

The past tense of to be (olin, oli)

The illative case (-hVn, -seen)

Greetings and goodbyes (hei, näkemiin)

Thank you and sorry (kiitos, anteeksi)

Liking things (pitää / tykätä + -sta/-stä)

Temporary states and roles (-na/-nä)

Change of state (-ksi)

Ongoing actions (-massa/-mässä)

Going to do an action (-maan/-mään)

Returning from an action (-masta/-mästä)

Third-person possessives (-nsa/-nsä or -Vn)

Plural possessives (-mme, -nne)

Indefinite pronouns (joku, jokin, kaikki)

Negative indefinite pronouns (ei kukaan, ei mikään)

Commands for verb types 4 and 5

Adverb formation (-sti)

Past tense for verb type 1 (-i-)

Past tense vowel changes for verb type 1 (-o- / -i-)

Past tense for verb type 2 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 3 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 4 (-si-)

Past tense for verb type 5 (-itsi-)

Past tense consonant gradation

Past participles for verb types 1 and 2 (-nut / -nyt)

Past participle singular for verb types 3-5 (-nnut, -llut)

Active past participle plural (-neet)

Past tense negative (en mennyt, emme olleet)

The perfect tense (olen ollut)

The perfect tense negative (en ole nähnyt)

Total plural objects (-t)

Partitive plural (-ia / -iä)

Partitive plural (-ja / -jä)

Partitive plural (-ita / -itä)

Question	Answer
where from / what (of/about)	mistä
Where do you come from?	Mistä sinä tulet?
Finland	Suomi
I am from Finland.	Olen Suomesta.
Germany	Saksa
He is from Germany, not from Finland.	Hän on Saksasta, ei Suomesta.
country	maa
What country is he from?	Mistä maasta hän on?
to leave	lähteä
We are leaving Germany today.	Lähdemme Saksasta tänään.
office	toimisto
I am not leaving the office yet.	En lähde toimistosta vielä.
Are they leaving the shop now?	Lähtevätkö he kaupasta nyt?
to find	löytää
Do you find any money in the bag?	Löydätkö rahaa laukusta?
The student does not find the book in the office.	Opiskelija ei löydä kirjaa toimistosta.
I take some milk from the fridge.	Otan maitoa jääkaapista.
to like	pitää
movie	elokuva
I like this movie.	Minä pidän tästä elokuvasta.
Do you like that movie?	Pidätkö tuosta elokuvasta?
We like this country a lot.	Pidämme tästä maasta paljon.
color	väri
What color does he like?	Mistä väristä hän pitää?
He likes the color green.	Hän pitää vihreästä väristä.
Finnish (language)	suomi
I speak Finnish.	Minä puhun suomea.
Do you speak Finnish?	Puhutko sinä suomea?
to be from, to come from	olla kotoisin
I am from Finland.	Minä olen kotoisin Suomesta.
Where are you from?	Mistä sinä olet kotoisin?
to happen	tapahtua
It happens often.	Se tapahtuu usein.
It does not happen today.	Se ei tapahdu tänään.
English (the language)	englanti
I speak English.	Minä puhun englantia.
English is not difficult.	Englanti ei ole vaikeaa.

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