The ablative case (miltä) is closely related to the adessive case (millä). It’s wise to read and compare both of these at the same time if you’re a beginner. If you’re looking for an overview about missä, mistä and mihin, look here.

1. Use of the Ablative Case (Miltä)

1.1. Like –lla, but for going away

When the missä-form ends in -lla, then you can be pretty sure the mistä-form will end in -lta. So if you’re at the kiosk (kioskilla), you will also come from the kiosk (kioskilta). Similarly, in the library (kirjastossa), will require FROM the library (kirjastosta).

1.2. When talking about time

When numbers have the -lta ending, it signifies at what time things happened. You can only use the ablative for this when you’re talking about whole or half hours. That’s why you can say “puoli kymmeneltä“, but can’t use -lta for “kymmenen vaille viisi“.

1.3. When using certain verbs

Finnish has this concept of “rections”: most words will require other words that they get combined with to appear in a certain case.

1. The ablative case will most often be the rection of a verb when we’re talking about people. The question word in these cases is keneltä rather than miltä. Read more here.
2. There is a series of perceptional verbs that all use -lta as their rection. More about that in our article on the senses and perceptional verbs.

2. The Formation of the Ablative Case

The ablative is one of the six location cases. Its ending -lta gets added to the same form as most of the other locations cases (-ssa, -sta, -lla, -lle)

2.1. Words ending in a vowel (-a/-ä, -u/-y, -o/-ö): add -lta/-ltä

This is also true for some words ending in -i, but they generally have a different rule. See below!

2.2. Words ending in -e: add an extra -e- before the -lta/-ltä

Words ending in -e get a second -e- in any case except the partitive. Words ending in -e belong to wordtype B, which means their basic form will be weak (e.g. parveke, koe) and their ablative strong (e.g. parvekkeelta, kokeelta).

2.3. Words ending in -i

You can read more about the difference between the different kinds of words ending in -i here.

2.3.1. New words ending in -i: add -lta/-ltä

New words are often loanwords. Usually they’re recognisable because they resemble words in other languages, like pankki for “bank”, or paperi for “paper”. Loanwords are easier than Finnish words because they don’t undergo as many changes when you add endings.

2.3.2. Old words ending in -i: replace -i- with -e- and add -lta/-ltä

Old words are very often nature words. After all, nature has been around for so long that Finns have had names for nature words since the very beginning. Some words’ age can be confusing, for example äiti (mother) is actually a fairly new Finnish word, even though mothers have been around since the beginning of time!

This section combines words belonging to the OVI-type and the PIENI-type into one because these types undergo the exact same change when inflected in the illative case.

2.3.3. Old words ending in -si: replace -si- with -de- and add -lta/-ltä

More old words, but this time with -si at their end. This group has its own additional change: the -si will turn into -de-.

I have a more extensive list of words that belong to this type here.

2.4. Words ending in a consonant

2.4.1. Words ending in -nen: replace the -nen with -se before the -lta/-ltä

This is the same change that -nen words go through when used in any case except the partitive.

2.4.2. Words ending in -as: replace -as with -aa- + -lta

Words ending in -as (or –äs, depending on vowel harmony rules) belong to wordtype B, so they will have the weak grade in their basic form (e.g. rakas, opas) and the strong grade in the ablative (e.g. rakkaalta, oppaalta). Read more about words ending in -as here.

2.4.3. Words ending in -is: two groups

For words ending in -is, we have two groups: words like kallis that get -ii- when inflected, and words like roskis that get -ikse- when inflected.

2.4.4. Words ending in -os/-ös: replace –os with –okse– and add –lta

Words ending in -os and –ös will respectively get -okse- and –ökse– when inflected.

2.4.5. Words ending in -us/-ys: two groups

Words ending in –us can belong to two groups: some get -ukse-, others get -ude- before the ablative’s -lta. This depends on whether the word is derived from an adjective (e.g. pimeä > pimeys) or not. Words which have been derived from an adjective get –ude-, while other words get –ukse-. You will want to check out this article to get the specifics.

2.4.6. Words ending in -ton: replace -ton with -ttoma- + -lta

Read more about words ending in -ton here.

2.4.7. Words ending in -in: replace -in with -ime- + -lta

Read more about words ending in -in here.

2.4.8. Words ending in -ut: two groups

Words that end in -ut/yt can belong to two wordtypes. The smallest group of the two contains words such as olut, kevyt and lyhyt. For these words, you will replace the final -t with an –e- before the ablative’s case ending.

The much larger group is made up of NUT-participles such as väsynyt and tottunut. For the words, you will replace the -ut/yt with -ee- before the ablative’s case ending.

2.4.9. Words ending in -tar

Words ending in -tar are rare, but at least tytär (daughter) is a common word. In the miltä-form, these words get -ttare- in place of the basic form’s -tar.

2.4.10. Non-Finnish words ending in a consonant

Loanwords and foreign names (e.g. Jonathan, Facebook) which end in a consonant will have an extra -i- added before the ablative’s -lta/ltä.

You might also want to check out these two articles:

3. Consonant Gradation in the Ablative Case

I have a separate article on wordtype A.

I have a separate article on wordtype B.

That concludes the article on the ablative case!

Related posts:

The Senses – Aistit – Finnish Vocabulary The Inflection of Postpositions – Finnish Grammar Adverbs of Location: Täällä, Kaikkialla, Ylhäällä Finnish Comparative Forms – Vertailuasteet