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Finnish

### The elative case for "about"

When you talk, read, or think *about* something in Finnish, you use the elative case. This case is formed by adding the ending **-sta** or **-stä** (depending on vowel harmony) to the stem of a word. 

If the noun has any modifiers—such as the pronoun **tämä** (this) or an adjective like **uusi** (new)—those modifiers must also take the elative ending. For example, **tämä** becomes **tästä** and **uusi** becomes **uudesta**.

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### Knowing and discussing

A wide variety of verbs related to sharing or holding information require the elative case. This includes verbs like **tietää** (to know), **kertoa** (to tell), and **puhua** (to speak). You will see this pattern frequently when discussing news, websites, and social media.

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### Hearing and asking

When you hear (**kuulla**) or ask (**kysyä**) about a topic, you continue to use the elative case. Keep in mind that in colloquial, spoken Finnish, demonstrative pronouns are often shortened. For example, **tuosta** (about that) is commonly shortened to **tosta**.

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### Reporting, dreaming, and complaining

Other cognitive and communicative verbs that trigger the elative include **raportoida** (to report), **unelmoida** (to dream), and **valittaa** (to complain). Whether the topic is a concrete problem or an abstract desire, the grammatical rule remains the same.

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Verbs of thinking and communicating (-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

The elative case (-sta/-stä)

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)

Question	Answer
blog	blogi
We are discussing the new blog.	Keskustelemme uudesta blogista.
Why are you reading about this blog?	Miksi luet tästä blogista?
podcast	podcast
I would gladly talk about the podcast.	Puhuisin mielelläni podcastista.
When will he tell us about the new podcast?	Milloin hän kertoo meille uudesta podcastista?
website	sivusto
Do you know about this website?	Tiedätkö tästä sivustosta?
The article is about a new website.	Artikkeli kertoo uudesta sivustosta.
social	sosiaalinen
I do not want to talk about social media.	En halua puhua sosiaalisesta mediasta.
We are discussing social media.	Keskustelemme sosiaalisesta mediasta.
The journalist is asking about the rumor.	Toimittaja kysyy huhusta.
comment	kommentti
Why are you writing about this comment?	Miksi kirjoitat tästä kommentista?
post	julkaisu
I heard about that post.	Mä kuulin tosta julkaisusta.
Do they know about the new post?	Tietävätkö he uudesta julkaisusta?
forum	foorumi
I would ask about this forum.	Kysyisin tästä foorumista.
We often argue about the forum.	Riitelemme usein foorumista.
to report	raportoida
They are not reporting on the problem.	He eivät raportoi ongelmasta.
The guide is warning about the weather.	Opas varoittaa säästä.
to dream	unelmoida
I dream about a new laptop.	Unelmoin uudesta läppäristä.
They are complaining about this post.	Ne valittaa tästä julkaisusta.
update	päivitys
I would like to hear about the update.	Haluaisin kuulla päivityksestä.
He is asking about the update.	Se kysyy päivityksestä.
The journalist reports about this comment.	Toimittaja raportoi tästä kommentista.
I dream about a long holiday.	Minä unelmoin pitkästä lomasta.
to see to, to look after	huolehtia
I see to it that the publication is ready.	Huolehdin siitä, että julkaisu on valmis.
Who looks after this site?	Kuka huolehtii tästä sivustosta?
to promise	luvata
I promised to write a comment on the blog.	Lupasin kirjoittaa kommentin blogiin.
He promised to make a new update.	Hän lupasi tehdä uuden päivityksen.
TV (the everyday short form)	tv
I watched TV the whole evening.	Katsoin tv:tä koko illan.
The TV is old, but the site is new.	Tv on vanha, mutta sivusto on uusi.

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