Verbs That Take -lle

Level 3

In Finnish, the allative case (ending in -lle) is used with specific verbs to indicate who is receiving something, who is being spoken to, or who something is suitable for. It functions similarly to the word 'to' or 'for' in English when referring to people.

How It Works

Verbs governing the allative usually fall into several main categories:

  • Communication: Telling, answering, calling, promising, recommending, or introducing (e.g., sanoa, kertoa, vastata, soittaa, luvata, suositella, esitellä). Note that vastata takes the allative for the person being answered (vastata minulle), but the illative for the thing being answered (vastata kysymykseen).
  • Giving/Transfer: Handing, sending, selling, showing, paying, or lending (e.g., antaa, lähettää, myydä, näyttää, maksaa, lainata).
  • Suitability: Fitting or being enough (e.g., sopia, riittää).
  • Emotion/Reaction: Getting angry, laughing, smiling, or lying (e.g., suuttua, nauraa, hymyillä, valehdella).
  • Belonging/Happening: Belonging, happening, or being acceptable (e.g., kuulua, tapahtua, kelvata).
  • Perception/Sense: The verb maistua takes the allative for the experiencer (e.g., Ruoka maistuu minulle (The food appeals to me). For a tasting opinion, a clear alternative is Ruoka maistuu minusta hyvältä (The food tastes good to me).). Note that the adjective describing the quality can be in either the ablative case (-lta/-ltä) or the allative case (-lle). Both are correct and represent a regional difference, though the ablative is often taught as the default to avoid ambiguity.

Morphology Rules:
1. The ending is always -lle. Unlike most suffixes, it does not have an 'a/ä' variant, though the word stem must still follow vowel harmony.
2. The allative ending attaches to the inflectional/genitive stem (the same stem used for the -n genitive ending). This means it triggers consonant gradation. For standard nouns, it attaches to the weak stem (e.g., tyttö becomes tytö- + -lle). However, words with reverse consonant gradation attach to the strong stem (e.g., osoite → osoitteelle). It also handles consonant-ending words like mies (miehe- + -lle) or puhelin (puhelime- + -lle).
3. For words ending in -nen, the stem changes to -se- (e.g., nainen → naiselle).
4. For 'old' words ending in -i, the -i changes to -e- (e.g., lapsi → lapselle).
5. In the common huone type, final -e becomes -ee- (e.g., huone → huoneelle).
6. In the uusi type, -si changes to -de-; other -si words have different stems, such as lapsi → lapselle and lasi → lasille (e.g., uusi → uudelle).
7. To form the plural allative, insert the plural marker -i- before the -lle ending (e.g., tytöille, naisille).
8. Personal pronouns have specific allative forms: minulle, sinulle, hänelle, meille, teille, heille.

More Recipient Constructions
Common additions are tuoda (bring), viedä (take to), tarjota (offer), ojentaa (hand over), palauttaa (return), and lahjoittaa (donate): Toin äidille kukkia, Palautin kirjan opettajalle.

Suuttua can take allative for the target of anger (suuttua minulle) or illative in constructions such as suuttua meluun (become annoyed at the noise). Learn these alternatives in context; a verb is not limited to one case in all meanings.

Examples (5)

  1. Minä annan lahjan ystävälle.

    I give a gift to a friend.

    Word by Word: I give gift friend-to.

    The verb 'antaa' (to give) requires the recipient to be in the allative case (-lle).

  2. Soitatko sinä äidille tänään?

    Will you call mom today?

    Word by Word: Call-you you mom-to today?

    In Finnish, you call 'to' someone (soittaa + allative), unlike English where 'mom' is a direct object.

  3. Hän sanoi minulle totuuden.

    He/she told me the truth.

    Word by Word: He/she said me-to truth.

    The verb 'sanoa' (to say/tell) uses the allative for the person being spoken to.

  4. Tämä hattu sopii sinulle.

    This hat suits you.

    Word by Word: This hat suits you-to.

    The verb 'sopia' (to fit/suit) takes the allative to show who the object is suitable for.

  5. Lupasin lapselle jäätelöä.

    I promised the child some ice cream.

    Word by Word: I promised child-to ice-cream.

    Promising (luvata) is a form of communication directed at a recipient, requiring -lle.

Common Mistakes

  • Using illative instead of the recipient case with antaa.

    Annan kirjan tyttöön.
    Annan kirjan tytölle.

    Learners often use the illative because it also means 'to'. Use allative -lle for the recipient of antaa. Illative tyttöön is a valid form with other verbs, such as luottaa tyttöön (trust the girl), but does not mark the recipient in this example.

  • Forgetting consonant gradation.

    Sanoin sen äitille.
    Sanoin sen äidille.

    In äiti, the single t changes to d in the allative äidille. This is t/d gradation, not tt/d.

  • Using the allative for 'asking'.

    Kysyn hänelle.
    Kysyn häneltä.

    While most communication is -lle, 'kysyä' (to ask) takes the ablative (-lta) because you are asking 'from' someone.

How It Connects

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Verbs That Take -lleLevel 3

Learn This First

To understand verbs governing the allative, you first need to know how to form the allative case (-lle) and how to conjugate basic verbs. This pattern focuses on the specific Finnish verbs that require this case to express 'to someone' or 'for someone', such as giving, telling, or calling.

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Words in This Pattern

-lle