Allative

The allative suffix lle^x

The suffix of the allative is always lle^x, i.e. lle with boundary gemination. Examples: talo : talo|lle: talo|i|lle, mies : miehe|lle : mieh|i|lle. For example, Anna miehelle kala is pronounced [annam miehellek kala].

Meanings of the allative

The allative typically corresponds to prepositions like ”to”, “onto”, and “for”. It often indicates movement to the neighborhood or to the surface of something, e.g. Pane se pöydälle (Put it onto the table), Such usage is described in section Locational cases.

The allative also indicates the recipient (of giving something, for example). Examples: ostin hänelle lahjan (I bought her/him a present), sanoin sinulle (I said to you). It is also used to express to whom something is beneficial, harmful, pleasant etc., e.g. Uudistus on hyödyllinen monille (The reform is useful/beneficial to many), Tämä on vaarallinen linnuille (This is dangerous to birds). In some Indo-European languages, there is a case called dative that more or less corresponds to these types of using the Finnish allative.

In Finnish, the recipient is always in the allative. In English, we can say “I gave Mary an apple”, and the word order determines that Mary is the recipient. In Finnish, we say Annoin Marylle omenan, and we can change the word order without affecting the basic meaning.

The allative also has the following uses:

• It expresses to whom something happens, e.g. Minulle sattui onnettomuus (I had an accident; lite rally “to me happened an accident”).
• It expresses to whom something is addressed, e.g. Selitin sen Maijalle (I explained it to Maija) and Opetan heille suomea (I teach Finnish to them).
• It expresses taste or feeling in the contexts of verbs maistua in the meaning “to taste like”, though the ablative is a more common alternative, e.g. Tämä maistuu makealta ∼ makealle (This tastes sweet).