-lle

The allative is one of the three 'outer' local cases in Finnish. Its primary functions are:

• Physical Movement: It describes moving to the top of a surface (pöydälle - onto the table) or to an open area (rannalle - to the beach). It can also mean moving to the vicinity or yard of a building (mennä kaupalle - to go to the shop's area), whereas the illative means going inside.
• Recipient (Dative): Finnish uses the allative to show who receives something or who is being spoken to. For example, antaa kirja lapselle means to give a book to a child. The personal pronouns in the allative are: minulle (to me), sinulle (to you), hänelle (to him/her), meille (to us), teille (to you plural/formal), and heille (to them).
• Getting / Receiving (Counterpart to 'have'): It acts as the directional counterpart to the 'have' construction. While minulla on means 'I have', minulle tulee means 'I get' or 'comes to me'.
• Verbs of Leaving, Staying, and Forgetting: Verbs like jättää (to leave), jäädä (to stay), and unohtaa (to forget) require a directional case like the allative (e.g., Jätin avaimet pöydälle - I left the keys on the table).
• Verbs of Perception: The verb maistua (to taste) is a specific exception that uses the allative for the experiencer (e.g., Ruoka maistuu minulle - The food tastes good to me). For the quality perceived, the ablative is a common choice: tuntuu hyvältä, tuoksuu hyvältä. Allative alternatives such as tuoksuu hyvälle also occur. Do not confuse this quality complement with the experiencer in maistuu minulle.
• Scheduling: It is used when moving or scheduling events for a new time. For example, siirtää kokous maanantaille (to move the meeting to Monday).
• Place Names: While most cities use 'inner' cases, some specific place names like Tampereelle or Venäjälle (to Russia) require the allative.
• People and Professions: It is used when going to see a person (e.g., mennä kaverille - to go to a friend's) or when someone shows something to you (e.g., näyttää minulle - shows to me).

Formation:
The suffix is always -lle. It is a neutral suffix and remains exactly the same regardless of vowel harmony. For singular words, it is added to the inflectional stem, which is the same stem and grade used for the singular genitive.

Plural Formation:
To form the plural allative, the plural marker -i- combines with the base to make a plural stem, which often causes the final vowel of the stem to change or drop before adding the case ending -lle (e.g., pöytä -> pöydille, lapsi -> lapsille).

Consonant Gradation:
In the singular, the allative follows the same consonant gradation rules as the genitive. If the genitive uses the weak grade (katto -> katon), the singular allative does too (katolle). If the genitive uses the strong grade (osoite -> osoitteen), the singular allative does as well (osoitteelle). In the plural, the allative ending (-ille) closes the syllable, which triggers the weak grade for standard words (e.g., katoille). However, words with reverse consonant gradation (like words ending in -e) take the strong grade in the plural allative (e.g., osoitteille).

Deadlines versus scheduled times: Compare Siirsimme kokouksen maanantaille (we moved the meeting to Monday) with Raportti pitää palauttaa maanantaihin mennessä (the report must be returned by Monday) and Teen sen maanantaiksi (I will have it ready for Monday). The allative is not the general ending for by a deadline.