Täällä Täältä Tänne – “Here” in Finnish
In this article, we look at these three words: täällä täältä tänne, which are adverbs formed from the demonstrative pronoun tämä. Täällä, täältä and tänne all mean “here”, but are used in different contexts. You might want to get acquainted with the missä, mistä and mihin forms first.
You can compare these three forms to the words tässä tästä tähän by following the link. The text below refers to the difference between the two regularly as well.
- Täällä (missä?)
- Täällä “here, over here”
- Täältä (mistä?)
- Täältä “from here, out of here”
- Tänne (mihin?)
- Tänne “to here, towards me”
- Phrases with täällä, täältä and tänne
1. Täällä (Missä?)
Täällä typically refers to a static – large – location which the speaker is in close proximity to. For example, the sentence “Viihdymme täällä” can be used to express that we’re happy living in a certain apartment, in (part of) a city, or even a country. Viihdyn täällä olohuoneessa / asunnossani / Tampereella / Suomessa / Euroopassa.
More specifically, täällä refers to a relatively expansive area without clear borders. This is in contrast with tässä, which refers to a relatively small area with clear borders. Due to this reason we could also use tässä to say we are happy living in an apartment for example. This depends on the speaker.
Täällä “here, over here”
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Viihdymme täällä. | We’re happy living here. |
| En halua olla täällä. | I don’t want to be here. |
| Missähän täällä on vessat? | Where are the toilets around here, please? |
| Täällä haisee palaneelta. | It smells burned here. |
| Onko täällä jotain juotavaa? | Is there anything to drink here? |
| Älä näyttäydy täällä enää! | Don’t show yourself here anymore! |
| Täällä ei ole kenttää. | There is no phone reception here. |
| Kas vain, sinäkin olet täällä. | Oh, I see you are here, too. |
2. Täältä (Mistä?)
Täältä typically refers to a movement away from a relatively expansive location that the speaker is in close proximity to. For example, the speaker wants to leave a location or urges someone else to leave.
Täältä carries the idea that the relatively expansive area doesn’t have clear borders. This is in contrast with tästä, which refers to a relatively small area with clear borders. Both, however, mean a movement away from the area in question.
Täältä “from here, out of here”
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Pääsen täältä pian pois. | I’ll be out of here soon. |
| Täältä on kaupunkiin 30 km. | It’s 30 km from here to the city. |
| Ääni tuli täältä ulkoa. | The sound came from out here. |
| Painu helvettiin täältä. | Get the hell out of here. |
| Täältä tullaan! | Here we come! |
3. Tänne (Mihin?)
Tänne is used to express a movement towards a relatively large area, or a fairly vaguely defined area. What’s important is that the speaker is located in the direction the movement is pointed to.
Tänne “to here, towards me”
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Tule tänne! | Come here! |
| Tuleeko tänne vielä muita? | Will there be others coming here? |
| Anna ne heti tänne! | Give them here right now! |
| Anna mikki tänne! | Give the microphone here! |
| Joku jätti tämän tänne. | Someone left this here. |
| Älkää jättäkö minua tänne. | Don’t leave me here. |
4. Phrases with täällä, täältä and tänne
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Autoni on [täällä jossain]. | My car is [somewhere here]. |
| [Täällä jos missään] saa elää rauhassa. | [Here, if anywhere], I can live in peace. |
| Heikki täällä, moi! | Heikki here, hello! (on the phone) |
| [Siellä täällä] oli vesilätäköitä. | [Here and there] there were water puddles. |
| “Minä lähden.” – “Sama täällä.” | “I’m leaving.” – “Same here.” |
| Tietoja oli kerätty [sieltä täältä]. | Information was collected from here and there. |
| Ajatukset risteilivät [sinne tänne]. | Thoughts criss-cross back and forth. |
| Heittelin tavaroitani [sinne sun tänne]. | I threw my things this way and that. |
That’s all for täällä, täältä and tänne.
why täällä on kallista. not Täällä on kallis
talvella on kylmä. Not talvella on kylmää
Usually, sentences that express a state will come with the partitive.
These sentences are all built the same way:
-ssa/-lla + olla + adjective in the partitive
There are cases where you will also find the basic form, like in your question example about winter. The easiest way to approach this as a language learner is just to always use the partitive in these sentences. The partitive is always possible; the basic form will only work in some cases.
How about tähän?
Tässä, tästä and tähän are in their own article here: https://uusikielemme.fi/finnish-grammar/adverbs/tassa-tasta-tahan-here-in-finnish/
Request: you have pages on täällä-täältä-tänne and tuolla-tuolta-tuonne so how about a page on siellä-sieltä-sinne? If you read Chapter 25 in Finnish For Foreigners 1 you will understand my sudden enthusiasm for the those adverbs.
Siellä-sieltä-sinne one of these mini series of articles I create that for no special reason get abandoned midway. I think I got side-tracked with siinä-siitä-siihen and then never returned to the topic. I’ll bump it up a bit on my to-do list!
I’ll have to go to the library to take a look at that chapter :p
“Älkää jättäkö minua tänne”. What is the meaning of -kö in that sentence? It is not a question.
The negative plural imperative always consists of “älkää ____ko/kö”. It’s not a question, just part of the construction 🙂
Aargh, I am supposed to know that! Suomea Suomeksi 1 Chapter 14.
Typo: “Information was collect” should be “Information was collected”
Translation mistake: “Heittelin” is past tense so should be “I threw” instead of “I throw”.
In “Anna mikki tänne” it seems that the reference of “tänne” would be “minulle”, wich cannot be considered as a rather large vaguely defined area, wich speaks for the ambiguity and subjectivity of such criteria as small/large, bounded/unbounded and so forth.
Well… “Anna mikki tähän” sounds very strange. It would require the speaker to show their hand and look at it very pointedly while giving the command. In contrast, “Anna mikki tänne” is just “in my direction” or “towards my person”. Less specific than the palm of my hand.
But yes, I totally understand. Getting a feel for what Finns consider a small/large/specific/vague area takes some adjusting.
So my person is large and undefined in comparison to my hand. Now I understand. Thank you for your accurate response.