# cases in place names



## the pensive wombat

My Finnish phrase book gives examples of *to, from *and *in *various places. For example: *to* Ivalo is Ivaloon, *from* Ivalo is Ivalosta and *in* Ivalo is Ivalossa.

I’m a beginner but it seems to me that: Ivaloon is illative, Ivalosta is elative and Ivalossa is inessive.

But Vantaa is different: *to* Vantaa is Vantaalle, *from* Vantaa is Vantaalta and *in* Vantaa is Vantaalla. This looks to me like: allative, ablative, adessive.

Could some kind person explain to me why this is? Is it because Vantaa is regarded as the airport and so an open space rather than as the municipality?

Paljon kiitoksia.


----------



## Hakro

This is often a problem even for native Finnish speakers. The main rule is the manner of speaking of local people. There are explanations for some place names but not all. For example Vantaa is also the name of a river, and if you say you are _Vantaassa_, it means you are swimming in the river. In a similar way, the place names ending with -järvi, -joki, -vesi etc. use allative, ablative, adessive.

Here you can find the cases for different place names.


----------



## fennofiili

Hakro said:


> For example Vantaa is also the name of a river, and if you say you are _Vantaassa_, it means you are swimming in the river.



Indeed. The river is usually called Vantaanjoki for clarity, but the river meaning has affected the city name inflection. Presumably a word form like “Vantaalla” originally meant “around/near (the river) Vantaa”. This is much older usage than the airport.

The airport is officially “Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema” but usually called just “Helsingin lentoasema”, since the older Helsinki-Malmi has not been used for normal scheduled flights for a long time. If it is called using the name “Vantaa”, it is inflected like the city name.



> In a similar way, the place names ending with -järvi, -joki, -vesi etc. use allative, ablative, adessive.



And -mäki. But there are exceptions (listed on the Kotus page cited, for municipalities).


----------



## the pensive wombat

Hakro said:


> This is often a problem even for native Finnish speakers. The main rule is the manner of speaking of local people. There are explanations for some place names but not all. For example Vantaa is also the name of a river, and if you say you are _Vantaassa_, it means you are swimming in the river. In a similar way, the place names ending with -järvi, -joki, -vesi etc. use allative, ablative, adessive.
> 
> Here you can find the cases for different place names.




Thank you both for your helpful replies. Yet another complication for the innocent anglophone.


----------

