The verbs mennä and lähteä can confuse some students. It’s especially common for native Estonian speakers, but not limited to only them. In this article, we’ll look at what causes the confusion and at what rections you can expect with these two verbs.

This article idea was suggested by F1RANDOKALBUS22 on our Discord server. A lot of the information is based on a Master’s thesis by Kristi Pällin and Annekatrin Kaivapalu.

1. Finnish “mennä” and Estonian “minema“

Finnish and Estonian are closely related. This means that they have quite a few words in common, which makes learning Finnish generally easier for Estonian speakers. However, this also causes some issues from time to time. Speakers of Estonian regularly complain that they have trouble deciding when they can trust that something works the same way in Finnish. Some things just don’t work the same way, which can come out of the blue.

The Finnish verb mennä and the Estonian minema have the same origin. However, in current Estonian, the Finnish verbs mennä (“to go”) and lähteä (“to leave”) have been combined into one verb. The verb’s infinitive in Estonian is minema, but the first person present tense is lähen. As you can see, this is bound to cause confusion for Estonian speakers. In Finnish, there are two paradigms: [mennä : menen] and [lähteä : lähden].

The following two tables are meant to demonstrate the differences and similarities between the conjugation of these two verbs. First, you can find a list of forms that are the same. Then, there is a list of forms that are clearly different. In fact, they probably remind you very strong of the verb lähteä.  

Forms that are the same between mennä and minema

Forms that are the different between mennä and minema

I’m presenting the minä and sinä forms, but it’s the whole paradigm. Check it out here in Verbix.

2. The Main Difference Between Mennä and Lähteä

The Finnish verbs mennä and lähteä are quite distinct from one another. Sometimes this distinction is also visible in English, but other times things don’t quite match up there either. Due to experience, I know it’s not only Estonians that have trouble with these two verbs, so there must be other languages with a different system.

(Sidenote: You will use the verb käydä when you want to focus on visiting a place rather than the movement towards the location. This article doesn’t cover that topic.)

2.1. Mennä: movement towards

The verb mennä expresses a movement towards a place (e.g. menen elokuviin, menen torille). The starting point of the movement is either unknown or unimportant. For example, Menen kotiin “I go home” of course implies that there’s a place we’re leaving from, but the focus is on where we are going. We are certain where the movement will end. We can also include the starting point in the sentence (e.g. Menen koulusta kotiin), but it’s impossible to just say “menen koulusta”.

If you’re unsure which one to use, but don’t have time to sit down and think through everything this article mentions, you can resort to the following rule. The default usage of mennä is with the mihin form (e.g. menen kotiin, menen terapiaan, menen ravintolaan). It focuses on the movement towards the location you are going to.

2.2. Lähteä: movement away from

The verb lähteä expresses the beginning of the action/movement. It’s more complicated that mennä because it can appear with both the mistä and the mihin form. The default use of lähteä is to express leaving a place (e.g. lähden täältä, lähden koulusta).

However, it’s also possible to use lähteä to express movement towards another place (e.g. lähden kotiin, lähden kaupungille). The difference with mennä generally lies in the fact that we’re still putting the main focus of our sentence on the fact that we’re going away from our current place when we go towards the mentioned place. Whether/when we reach the end location of the movement is somewhat uncertain.

The default usage of lähteä is with the mistä form (e.g. lähden koulusta, lähden kotoa, lähden ravintolasta). It focuses on the location you’re leaving from.

3. The Biggest Problem with Mennä and Lähteä

The most difficult part of the difference between mennä and lähteä is that both can be used with the mihin form: Menen kotiin OR Lähden kotiin.

3.1. Menen kotiin vs. Lähden kotiin

When you say Menen kotiin you are:

1. Stating the clear goal of the movement you’re about to start
2. Expressing that you will reach that location
3. The starting point of the movement is unimportant

When you say Lähden kotiin, you are:

1. Stating that you’re leaving your current location (clear from the context)
2. Whether you reach the goal is unimportant/uncertain (maybe you get sidetracked and go to the store first instead)

3.2. Mennään elokuviin vs. Lähdetään elokuviin

• “Lähdetään elokuviin” has a slight connotation that you just don’t want to be home anymore, you want to leave the place and go somewhere
• “Mennään elokuviin” has the connotation that you have a clear goal which you are going to go to, it’s unimportant from where you start the movement

3.3. Olen menossa kotiin vs. Olen lähdössä kotiin

• “Olen menossa kotiin” focuses on the movement, the process towards a specific location.
• “Olen lähdössä kotiin” focuses on the beginning point of the movement.

3.4. Menen koulusta kotiin vs. Lähden koulusta kotiin

• “Menen koulusta kotiin” focuses on the movement from school to home, on the journey between school and home, which has a specific goal.
• “Lähden koulusta kotiin” focuses on the beginning point of the movement, the goal is mentioned but the movement away from school is the main focus.

3.5. Hän meni ensin kotiin ja lähti sen jälkeen kauppaan.

• The verb mennä is used because the end (päätepiste) of the movement and the result (lopputulos) of the movement are more important than the beginning (alkupiste) of the movement
• The verb lähteä is used because the beginning of the movement is important, and the end of the movement isn’t certain.

4. English Speakers versus Estonian Speakers

There is an interesting opposition between the mistakes with the verbs mennä and lähteä for English and Estonian speakers. Estonians are more likely to overuse the verb lähteä, because the verb minema mainly contains lähe-type conjugated forms. On the other hand, English speakers are more likely to overuse the verb mennä, because many of the cases where Finnish uses lähteä, English either uses “to go” or “to start”.

It’s a good idea to go through the following sections and consider how you would say these phrases in your own mother tongue. You might be able to grasp the differences between your native language and Finnish better that way.

5. More Specific Information about Mennä

Below, we’ll take another look at the different situations in which mennä is used. I’m not including all the idiomatic ways mennä is used. The main goal is to give you an overview of the most common ways to use the verb mennä.

5.1. Movement Towards a Location

The focus is on the goal of the movement. It’s not important from where the movement started (though it is possible to mention it). Both people (#1) and things (#2) can move towards a location.

5.2. Movement Towards an Activity

In addition to going somewhere, you can go do something. We can use both nouns (#1) and verbs (#2) in the mihin form for this. Things usually can’t move towards an activity (#3).

5.3. Expressing How Something Goes

We can use the verb mennä to express how a thing goes or went (#1). In these situations, we’re expressing a static situation, not a movement. The verb mennä won’t get the mihin form in these cases: we’re using the verb in combination with an adverb (usually hyvin or huonosti).

If something goes a certain way for a person, we use the adessive case (-lla) (#2). In English, you will generally translate these differently. For example, “miten sinulla menee” is literally “how is it going for you”, but sounds more natural in English as “how are you doing”.

5.4. Expressing a Change

We can use the verb mennä in combination with the translative case (-ksi). This case can express a change in state, status or purpose; a transition takes place. The translative is usually used with other verbs.

5.5. Exchange of Something to Someone

A thing (abstract or concrete) can “go” to someone. In these sentences there is generally a human middleman, which is not named. Using the verb mennä and the allative (-lle) is a way of focusing on the “destination” of the thing.

5.6. Movement Without a Explicit Goal

While these sentences don’t contain a destination, they still refer to the journey and have an implicit location which the speaker is certain about.

5.7. Collocations of the Verb Mennä

There are many collocations with the verb mennä. Below you can find a select few of them. I think I probably should make a separate article with a more complete list!

6. More Specific Information about Lähteä

I’m not mentioning every single way to use the verb lähteä. The main goal is to give you an overview of the most common ways to use the verb.

6.1. Movement Starting from a Location

First and foremost, the verb lähteä is used to express a movement away from a place. The goal of the movement is not important or not known. Most commonly, it’s people moving away from a location (#1). In addition, vehicles can also move away. (#2)

6.2. Movement Leaving a Location

We can use lähteä with the mihin form as well, as mentioned earlier. In these sentences, we’re only mentioning the goal; not the origin. Regardless, the verb lähteä inherently means that the focus lays in the movement away from the starting. As such, minä lähden nyt kotiin means “I’m leaving now to go home”, rather than “I’m going home now”. Here, as well, we can have vehicles moving (#2).

English has the phrase “to leave for [a location]”, so this meaning is not completely unheard of for English speakers. However, it’s more common to use the verb “to go”.

6.3. Movement Away in Order to Do an Activity

This is one of these situations that confuses many learners of Finnish. We can use the verb lähteä in combination with the mihin form of a noun or a verb. While this does mean that you want to go to a place, the meaning is still focused on moving away.

You’re either inviting someone to leave your current location or expressing that someone has left the location in question. In English, you will use “go” for this; not “leave”.

6.4. Expressing the Starting Point of a Static Location

We can use the verb lähteä also with static locations, when we want to express that something starts there. In English, you will generally use the verb “to start” rather than “to leave”.

6.5. Expressing the Starting Point of a Development

When something is based on something, or starts from something, we can use the verb lähteä. This is especially common with things that start small and then grow from there. Usually we’re talking about abstract things. In English, you will use the verb “to start” rather than “to leave”.

6.6. Expressing Detachment from Something

Sometimes, things get loose from what they’re supposed to be attached to. In these situations “to leave” doesn’t sound very natural in English, but it’s the default way to express this in Finnish.

6.7. Collocations of the Verb Lähteä

Notice how almost all of these idioms actually come with the mihin form, rather than the default mistä form of the verb lähteä.

7. Conclusion

It’s simple in English to translate mennä as “to go” and lähteä as “to leave”, but hopefully this article has given you some insight into why this view is too simplistic.

The verbs mennä and lähteä are quite distinct from each other in Finnish; more so than in English. The verb mennä is used to express the process of the movement. The verb lähteä is used to express where the movement is coming from. Estonians have their own set of problems due to the shared paradigm of [minema : ma lähen]. I hope I have been able to shed some light on when to use minä menen and when minä lähden.

8. Read More Elsewhere

• Verbix: Conjugation table of Estonian minema
• Verbix : Conjugation table of Finnish mennä
• Verbix: Conjugation table of Finnish lähteä
• Pro gradu: Suomen mennä ja lähteä vertailussa: lähtökohtana vironkielinen suomenoppija
• Pro gradu: Mennä-verbi kohde- ja lähdekonstruktiossa
  

Related posts:

The Ablative Case (Miltä) – Finnish Grammar Finnish Question Words – Interrogative Pronouns Existential Sentences – Jossain on jotain Places in the City – Finnish Vocabulary