Neues Konzept

Three questions, three endings

English moves around with little words: in, out of, into. Finnish puts the movement into an ending — and for every place there are three questions:

Question Ending Example English
Missä? — where? -ssa / -ssä Olen kahvilassa. I'm in the café.
Mistä? — where from? -sta / -stä Tulen kahvilasta. I'm coming out of the café.
Mihin? — where to? vowel + n Menen kahvilaan. I'm going into the café.

You already know the first two: Olen Helsingissä, Olen Bostonista. These three are the inner cases — for being inside something: buildings, rooms, cities, countries.

The new one is the into ending, called the illative. Minne? means the same as mihin? — you'll hear both.