Finnish Prepositions - Finnish Grammar

There is a small amount of Finnish prepositions. These form – in comparison with postpositions – a much less regular and satisfying pattern.

Table of Contents

The Use of Finnish Prepositions
The List of Possible Prepositions
1. Prepositions + partitive
2. Pre- & postpositions
3. Adpositions mixing the rules
4. More exceptions

1. The Use of Finnish Prepositions

The English languages mainly has prepositions to express a thing’s relative location in relation to other things: a ball can be [next to the table], [under the cupboard], [close to the couch] or [inside the box]. The underlined words are prepositions because they’re positioned in the front of the phrase.

Finnish mainly has the opposite; postpositions, where the order of the elements is reversed: [pöydän vieressä], [kaapin alla], [sohvan vieressä] or [laatikon sisällä]. Finnish does have some prepositions, but the system is nowhere as neat as the postposition system.

The general rules for Finnish prepositions:

They appear in front of the word that they express the relative location of.
They require that word to occur in the partitive case.

However, this topic consists of more exceptions than rules, so perhaps we should just let go the term “prepositions” at all and call them adpositions or adverbs.

2. The List of Finnish Prepositions

2.1. Prepositions + Partitive

Finnish prepositions require the word they appear in front of to be put in the partitive case.

Preposition	Example	Translation
ennen	Sain lahjan [ennen joulua].	I got a present [before Christmas].
ennen	Hän saapui [ennen minua].	He arrived [before me].
ilman	Osaan pyöräillä [ilman käsiä].	I can bicycle [without my hands].
vailla	Lapsi on [vailla tekemistä].	The child is [without anything to do].
pitkin	Kuljin [pitkin metsäpolkua].	I traveled [along the forest path].
pitkin	Tapahtumia on [pitkin vuotta].	Events happen [all through the year].

2.2. Pre- & Postpositions

Some adpositions can be used both as prepositions and postposions, aka they can appear both before and after the word they’re expressing a relation to, and they can require both the partitive and the genitive case.

Adposition	Postposition	Preposition	English
keskellä	kylän keskellä	keskellä kylää	in the middle of the village
keskeltä	kylän keskeltä	keskeltä kylää	from the middle of the village
keskelle	kylän keskelle	keskelle kylää	to the middle of the village
lähellä	kirkon lähellä	lähellä kirkkoa	near the church
läheltä	kirkon läheltä	läheltä kirkkoa	from near the church
lähelle	kirkon lähelle	lähelle kirkkoa	to near the church
vastapäätä	hotellin vastapäätä	vastapäätä hotellia	across the road of the hotel

2.3. Adpositions Mixing the Rules

There is a whole group of words that work like prepositions and postpositions, but mix the rules of both. What makes these different is that they require the partitive (like prepositions), but are situated behind their complement (like postpositions).

Adposition	Example	Translation
alas	Hän tuli [portaita alas].	She came [down the stairs].
alas	Hän tuli [alas portaita].	She came [down the stairs].
ylös	Hän kiipesi [tikapuita ylös].	She climbed [up the ladder].
päin	Hän ajoi [päin puuta].	She drove [towards / into the tree].
päin	Hän ajoi [puuta päin].	She drove [towards / into the tree].
varten	Hän osti sen [minua varten].	She bought it [for me].
varten	Ostin kakun [vieraita varten].	I bought a cake [for the guests].
kohti	Hän tuli [meitä kohti / kohden].	She came [towards us].
kohti	Hän kääntyi [valoa kohti / kohden].	She turned [towards the light].
kohti	Hän kääntyi [kohti / kohden valoa ].	She turned [towards the light].
kohtaan	Olit töykeä [häntä kohtaan].	You were rude [to her].
kohtaan	Tunnetko vihaa [häntä kohtaan]?	Do you feel anger [towards her]?
vastassa	Olin asemalla [häntä vastassa].	I was at the station [facing her] (to pick her up).
vastaan	Menin [häntä vastaan].	I went [towards her] (to pick her up).
vastaan	He olivat [suunnitelmaa vastaan].	They were [against the plan].
vasten	Hän nojasi [seinää vasten].	She leaned [against the wall].
vasten	Hän nojasi [vasten seinää].	She leaned [against the wall].
edellä	Hän oli [muita edellä].	She was [ahead of (the) others].
myöten	Hän kulki [tietä myöten].	She went [down/along the road].
myöten	Seisoin [vyötäröä myöten] vedessä.	I stood [up to my waist] in the water.
vailla	Olen [viimeistä tehtävää vaille] valmis.	I’m ready [except for the last task].
vailla	Kello on [viittä vailla] kaksi.	The time is [five away from] two. (1:55)
vailla	Odotin [vastausta vailla].	I waited [without a reply].
vailla	Odotin [vailla vastausta].	I waited [without a reply].

2.4. More Exceptions

Of the prepositions above, there are multiple that – while they can be used as shown in the examples – they are more often than not used differently. This is important to know.

The words alas and ylös appear much more often as adverbs on their own.
The word päin is much more common with location cases attached to it.
Vailla (or vaille) can also be used with the basic form.

Finnish	English
Kiipeän [ylös].	I climb upwards.
Lentokone putosi [alas].	The airplane fell down.
Hän kääntyi [minuun päin].	She turned [towards me].
Tuulee [mereltä päin].	The wind’s coming [from the sea].
Kello on [viisi vailla] kaksi.	The time is [five away from] two. (1:55)