Course Grammar - Kurssin Kielioppi
1. Nouns
1.4. Locative cases
To express location and direction in Finnish language, you need local
cases. Altogether, there are six local cases in Finnish language.
When choosing a local case ending you need to consider two aspects.
- Firstly, you need to figure out the direction of the movement:
is it static being in somewhere, movement from somewhere or movement to somewhere? - Secondly,
you need to look at the location in question: is it inside of a place
or on top of a place? Is it a closed or open space?
Are we inside the place or close by it?
Depending
on the movement the endings come in the series of three. According to
the place in question the local cases are divided into two groups.
| in, inside, indoors | on, outside, outdoors | |
|---|---|---|
| Minne/Mihin? Where to? |
talo-on (in)to the house | tori-lle (on)to the market |
| Missä? Where in/on? |
talo-ssa in the house | tori-lla at the market |
| Mistä? Where from? |
talo-sta from the house | tori-lta from the market |
The correct choice of the ending Minne/Mihin? Where to? depends on how the word ends.
1. vowel+-n after one vowel:
kauppa - kauppaan shop to the shop
yliopisto - yliopistoon univeristy - to the university
koulu - kouluun school to the school
2. -hVn after two vowels (in short words):
maa - maahan country to the country (cross the country border)
suu - suuhun mouth - (in)to the mouth
töihin to work.
Note that there is the same vowel before and after h.
3. -seen after two same vowels (in longer words) :
Espoo - Espooseen Espoo to Espoo (cross the city limits)
Lontoo - Lontooseen London to London