Appendix:Finnish adverbs

This appendix is about adverbs in the Finnish language.

Adverbs of manner

Many Finnish adverbs are adverbs of manner that are derived with the suffix -sti, equivalent to English -ly. They can be derived from practically any adjective:

laulaa kauniisti ― to sing beautifully

juosta nopeasti ― to run quickly, to run fast

toimia arvaamattomasti ― to act unpredictably

Note that unlike -ly, adverbs derived with -sti are not used to express a degree or extent of something, which is instead done with the Appendix:Finnish nominal forms § Genitive:

siedettävän hiljainen ― tolerably quiet

poikkeuksellisen kylmä ― exceptionally cold

This can result in subtle differences:

poikkeuksellisen kylmä ― exceptionally cold (so cold that it is exceptional, i.e. it is rarely this cold)

poikkeuksellisesti kylmä ― exceptionally cold (it is exceptional that it is cold, i.e. it is rarely cold at all)

Adverbs of location

Finnish has a well-established three-way system for expressing locations and directions using cases:

Symbol	Type	Internal	External	Abstract	Proximity	Old
→○	"to"	illative	allative	translative	sublative	lative
○	"in" ("at", "on")	inessive	adessive	essive	superessive	locative
○→	"from"	elative	ablative	—1	delative	separative
1 In some dialects, the exessive case.

Out of these, the internal, external and abstract locative cases are used for all nominals, but adverbs can use any of these five. The proximity set is often used with adverbs expressing proximity to something, rather than an exact location. The old case set is only found in a small set of adverbs, but is also used with adverbs expressing a comparative location, e.g. tännemmäs (“closer to here”) (of motion); in the latter case, the lative is interchangeable with the translative (could also be tännemmäksi).

The below table contains an example adverb for all of these cases:

Symbol	Type	Internal	External	Abstract	Proximity	Old
→○	"to"	väliin	päälle	raskaaksi	muualle	ulos
○	"in" ("at", "on")	välissä	päällä	raskaana	muualla	ulkona
○→	"from"	välistä	päältä	—	muualta	ulkoa

When glossing these adverbs, the labels (locative) and (of motion) are often used. The former refers to the "in" type, while the latter refers to the "to" type. For example, muualla is “elsewhere” (locative), while muualle is “elsewhere” (of motion); the former is used when something is in another place, while the latter is used when something is going to another place:

se on jossain muualla ― it is somewhere else

mene jonnekin muualle! ― go somewhere else!

Likewise, täällä is “here” (locative), while tänne is “here” (of motion); the latter could also be translated as hither, although that word is only used in literary contexts in modern English.

Adverbs of state

The system of locative cases has also been extended to derive adverbs describing a state of being. These cases are not necessarily restricted to the abstract locative cases, and indeed, can also use the internal and external locative cases as well.

When glossing these adverbs, the labels (of state) and (of result) are often used. The former refers to the "in" type, while the latter refers to the "to" type. In other words, the former is used when talking about a state of being, while the latter is used when talking about something entering a state of being, i.e. a change of state:

olla erillään ― to be apart

ajautua erilleen ― to drift apart

olla unessa ― to be asleep (in a state of sleep)

vaipua uneen ― to fall asleep (into a state of sleep)

Adverbial cases

There exists a set of suffixes that are used to derive new adverbs. Some Finnish grammars group many of them into so-called adverbial cases as a set of additional "noun cases". These cases are not applicable to every nominal (with possibly one exception) and forms of these cases are considered adverbs rather than case forms. This list mainly follows Suomen kielioppi by Panu Mäkinen.

Note that the term 'adverbial case' is somewhat controversial, and many grammars, such as Iso suomen kielioppi, do not use the term. Many of the individual cases listed below are still relatively well accepted, however.

Superessive

The superessive case is part of a third set of locative cases alongside the delative and sublative cases. It corresponds to the inessive or adessive cases, expressing presence at a static location, often nearby or alongside something else. Its ending is -alla. Only singular forms exist. Superessive adverbs can also be used with many verbs that take adverbials inflected in the inessive (or adessive) case.

Some grammars consider tuolla, täällä and siellä to be superessive forms, but etymologically the former is indistinguishable from the adessive case form, while the latter two have a distinct -ka suffix, unlike widely accepted superessive adverbs like kaikkialla and muualla.

Examples

• etä- (“far, remote”) → etäällä (“far away”)
• kaikki (“all”) → kaikkialla (“everywhere”)
• seisoa (“to stand”) → seisaallaan (“standing”) (+ with a possessive suffix)
• toinen (“other”) → toisaalla (“somewhere else”)

Delative

The delative case is part of a third set of locative cases alongside the superessive and sublative cases. It corresponds to the elative or ablative cases, expressing moving away from nearby or alongside something. Its ending is -alta. Only singular forms exist. Delative adverbs can also be used with many verbs that take adverbials inflected in the elative (or ablative) case.

Examples

• etä- (“far, remote”) → etäältä (“from far away”)
• kaikki (“all”) → kaikkialta (“from everywhere”)
• kautta (“throughout”) → kauttaaltaan (“thoroughly”) (+ with a possessive suffix)
• toinen (“other”) → toisaalta (“from somewhere else; on the other hand”)

Sublative

The sublative case is part of a third set of locative cases alongside the superessive and delative cases. It corresponds to the illative or allative cases, expressing moving towards nearby or alongside something. Its ending is -alle in most words, but -nne for others (usually ones with a monosyllabic stem, such as the common pronoun forms tänne, tuonne, sinne). Only singular forms exist. Sublative adverbs can also be used with many verbs that take adverbials inflected in the illative (or allative) case.

Examples

• etä- (“far, remote”) → etäälle (“(to) far away”)
• kaikki (“all”) → kaikkialle (“(to) everywhere”)
• toinen (“other”) → toisaalle (“(to) somewhere else”)
• tämä (“this”) → tänne (“(to) here, hither”)

Lative

Lative adverbs express motion towards something. Finnish has a multitude of lative suffixes, the most common of which are -s, -i and -(k) (the last suffix has no visible spelling). Occasionally these forms are called the s-lative, i-lative and k-lative, respectively. At times the translative ending may serve a lative role, like in taakse. Only singular forms exist. Lative adverbs can also be used with many verbs that take adverbials inflected in the illative (or allative) case.

Examples

• ala- (“lower”) → alas (“down, downwards”), ali (“(to) under”)
• irto- (“separate, loose, detached”) → irti (“off, loose”)
• kauko- (kauka-) (“far”) → kauas (“(to) far (away)”)
• luo- (“at (someone's place)”) → luo (“to (at, by), to someone's place”)
• lähi- (“near”) → lähes (“nearly, almost”)
• rikkoa (“to break”) → rikki (“broken”)
• se (“that, it”) → siis (“therefore, so; as in; I mean”)
• ylä- (“upper”) → ylös (“up, upwards”), yli (“(to) over”)

Locative

Locative adverbs express being in or at a static location. The locative ending is the same as the essive ending -na, since the essive case has developed from the original locative sense which is now only present in adverbs. Only singular forms exist. Locative adverbs can also be used with many verbs that take adverbials inflected in the inessive (or adessive) case.

Examples

• kauko- (kauka-) (“far”) → kaukana (“far”)
• koto (“home”) (dialectal) → kotona (“(at) home”) (standard)
• syksy (“autumn, fall”) + comparative → syksympänä (“later in the autumn/fall”)
• ylempi (“upper, further above”) → ylempänä (“further above”)

Separative

Separative adverbs express moving away from a location. The separative ending is the same as the partitive ending (usually of the form -a, -ta), since the partitive case has developed from the original separative sense which is now only present in adverbs. Only singular forms exist. Separative adverbs can also be used with many verbs that take adverbials inflected in the elative (or ablative) case.

Examples

• alempi (“lower, further below”) → alempaa (“from further below”)
• kauko- (kauka-) (“far”) → kaukaa (“from afar”)
• koto (“home”) (dialectal) → kotoa (“from home”) (standard)
• luo- (“at (someone's place)”) → luota (“from (at, by), from someone's place”)
• ulko- (“outer”) → ulkoa (“from outside”)

Temporal

Temporal adverbs express points of time for when something happens. All temporal endings have developed from instructive plural endings and end in -oin. The most common ending is -lloin, but -kkoin, -nnoin and plain -oin are also found. Temporal adverbs are generally considered to all be in singular, although etymologically they are in the plural.

Examples

• harva (“rare, seldom”) → harvoin (“rarely, seldom”)
• hiljaa (“slowly, quietly”) → hiljakkoin (“recently”)
• mikä (“what?”) → milloin (“when?”)
• se (“it, that”) → silloin (“then”)

Causative

Causative adverbs express manner of doing. The ending is -ten. The plural causative form -iten is also used as a superlative adverb suffix (for which the more common suffix is -immin, but for some individual words -iten has become predominant, e.g. for eniten).

Examples

• joku (“someone”) → jotenkuten (“somehow, in some way”)
• muu (“other”) → muuten (“else, otherwise”)
• pika- (“quick, express”) + superlative → pikimmiten (“as quickly as possible”)
• tämä (“this”) → täten (“thus, in this manner; hereby”)

Multiplicative

Multiplicative adverbs express how many times something is done, and most multiplicative adverbs are derived from numerals. The case ending is -sti. Only singular forms exist. -sti is also used to derive adverbs of manner from adjectives, and these are sometimes considered multiplicative as well.

Examples

• kolme (“three”) → kolmesti (“three times, thrice”)
• kuusi (“six”) → kuudesti (“six times”)
• usea (“many, multiple”) → useasti (“multiple times, many times”)

Distributive

Distributive adverbs express distribution or manner (especially in imitation). The case ending is -ttain. Distributive singular forms are rare, and most distributive forms are in the plural.

Examples

• hetki (“moment”) → hetkittäin (“intermittently”)
• kasa (“pile, heap”) → kasoittain (“(in) piles, heaps”)
• maa (“country”) → maittain (“by country”)
• osa (“part”) → osittain (“partly, partially”)
• pitkä (“long”) → pitkittäin (“lengthwise”)
• päivä (“day”) → päivittäin (“daily”)
• sata (“hundred”) → sadoittain (“by the hundred”)
• sivu (“page”) → sivuittain (“page by page”)
• suomalainen (“Finn, Finnish”) → suomalaisittain (“in the Finnish way, as the Finns do”)
• vähä (“few, little”) → vähittäin (“little by little”)

Temporal distributive

Temporal distributive adverbs generally express a repeating time reference for when something occurs, but are sometimes also used to express an origin or source for something. The case ending is -isin. Only plural forms exist.

Examples

• ilta (“evening”) → iltaisin (“in the evenings”)
• maanantai (“Monday”) → maanantaisin (“on Mondays”)
• nyky- (“now, current times”) → nykyisin (“nowadays”)
• talvi (“winter”) → talvisin (“during winters”)

Prolative

Prolative adverbs express motion through something or by something (as a medium). The case ending is -(i)tse (the -i- is etymologically an original part of the suffix, not the plural infix, but it is now often treated as a plural marker). Prolative singular forms are rare, and most prolative forms are in the plural.

The prolative case is generally more productive than other adverbial cases, and the case ending may even apply to attributes (pitkitse kirjeitse), which may be a sign of prolative being a full case (however, with most nominals it would be even more rare than the instructive case).

Examples

• ala- (“under, below”) → alitse (“beneath, underneath; through the space below something”)
• kirje (“letter (written message)”) → kirjeitse (“by letter”)
• maa (“land”) → maitse (“overland”)
• ohi (“past”) → ohitse (“past, passing by”)
• vesitie (“waterway”) → vesiteitse (“by waterways”)

Situative

Situative adverbs express location next to something else, usually in a reciprocal fashion. The case ending is -kkain. Most forms are singular; plural forms are rare.

Examples

• alle (“under”) → allekkain (“one below another”)
• lähi- (“close, near”) → lähekkäin (“in close proximity”)
• selkä (“back”) → seläkkäin (“back to back”)
• sisä- (“inside”) → sisäkkäin (“inside one another, nested”)
• vieri (“side”) → vierekkäin (“side by side, next to each other”)

Oppositive

Oppositive adverbs express location of two or more things facing against each other. The case ending is -tusten or -tuksin. Most forms are singular; plural forms are rare.

Examples

• kasvot (“face”) → kasvotusten (“face to face”) (= kasvotuksin)
• raja (“border”) → rajatusten (“bordering, adjoining”) (= rajatuksin)
• seinä (“wall”) → seinätysten (“wall to wall”) (= seinätyksin)
• silmä (“eye”) → silmätysten (“face to face, eye to eye”) (= silmätyksin)

Terminative

Terminative adverbs express movement up to a certain point. The different terminative case endings (all rare) are -nni and -li. Only singular forms exist.

Examples

• mikä (“what?”) → mikäli (“if, provided that”)
• se (“that, it”) → sikäli (“insofar”)
• tyvi (“stem, base”) → tyynni (“wholly”, intensifier used after kaikki)