Allative case


Allative case is a type of locative case. The term allative is generally used for the lative case in the majority of languages that do not make finer distinctions.

Finnish

In the Finnish language, the allative is the fifth of the locative cases, with the basic meaning of "onto". Its ending is -lle, for example pöytä and pöydälle. In addition, it is the logical complement of the adessive case for referring to "being around the place". For example, koululle means "to the vicinity of the school". With time, the use is the same: ruokatunti and ... lähti ruokatunnille. Some actions require the case, e.g. kävely - mennä kävelylle "a walk - go for a walk". It also means "to" or "for", for example minä and minulle.
The other locative cases in Finnish and Estonian are these:
In the Lithuanian and Latvian languages the allative had been used dialectally as an innovation since the Proto-Indo-European, but it is almost out of use in modern times. Its ending in Lithuanian is -op which was shortened from -opi, whereas its ending in Latvian is -up. In the modern languages the remains of the allative can be found in certain fixed expressions that have become adverbs, such as Lithuanian išėjo Dievop, velniop!, nuteisti myriop, rudeniop, vakarop, Latvian mājup, kalnup, lejup.

Greek

In Mycenaean Greek, a -de ending is used to denote an allative, when it is not being used as an enclitic, e.g. te-qa-de, *Tʰēgʷasde, "to Thebes". This ending survives into Ancient Greek in words such as Athḗnaze, from accusative Athḗnās + -de.

Biblical Hebrew

In Biblical Hebrew the so-called directional he in the form of ה ָ– /-ɔh/ suffixed to nouns also functions as an allative marker, usually translated as 'to' or 'toward'.

English

In Modern English, the suffix -ward/-wards can be regarded as similar to a newly-developed limited form of allative case. It indicates motion direction in some adjectives and adverbs that derive from some limited set of nouns.

Wanyi

, an extinct Australian language, had the allative suffixes -.

Latin

The Latin accusative of towns and small islands is used for motion towards in a way that is analogous to the allative case.

Udmurt

In the Udmurt language, words inflected with the allative case ending "-лань" /ɫɑɲ/ express the direction of a movement.