Editing Finnish grammar (section)

===Cases===
{{Main|Finnish noun cases}}
Finnish has fifteen [[declension|noun cases]]: four grammatical cases, six locative cases, two essive cases (three in some Eastern dialects), and three marginal cases. 

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Finnish cases
|-
! Case !! Suffix !! English {{abbr|prep.|preposition}} !! Example !! Translation
|-
! colspan="5" style="background:#efefef" | Grammatical
|-
| [[nominative case|nominative]] ({{lang|fi|nominatiivi}}) || – || – || {{lang|fi|sinä}}, {{lang|fi|talo}} || you, house
|-
| [[genitive case|genitive]] ({{lang|fi|genetiivi}})
| {{lang|fi|-n}} || of, [[English possessive|'s]] || {{lang|fi|sinun}}, {{lang|fi|talon}} || your(s), house's
|-
| [[accusative case|accusative]] ({{lang|fi|akkusatiivi}}) || –, {{lang|fi|-n}}, {{lang|fi|-t}} || – || {{lang|fi|sinut}}, {{lang|fi|talon}}, {{lang|fi|talo}} || you (thee), house (see discussion below)
|-
| [[partitive case|partitive]] ({{lang|fi|partitiivi}})
| {{lang|fi|-(t)a / -(t)ä}} || – || {{lang|fi|sinua}}, {{lang|fi|taloa}} || you, house (as the object of an [[Telicity|atelic]] verb)
|-
! colspan="5" style="background:#efefef" | Locative (internal)
|-
| [[inessive case|inessive]] ({{lang|fi|inessiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-ssa}} / {{lang|fi|-ssä}} || in || {{lang|fi|talossa}} || in a house
|-
| [[elative case|elative]] ({{lang|fi|elatiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-sta}} / {{lang|fi|-stä}} || out of || {{lang|fi|talosta}} || out of a house
|-
| [[illative case|illative]] ({{lang|fi|illatiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-Vn}}, {{lang|fi|-seen}}, {{lang|fi|-siin}}|| into || {{lang|fi|taloon}}, {{lang|fi|Porvooseen}} || into a house, into [[Porvoo]]
|-
! colspan="5" style="background:#efefef" | Locative (external)
|-
| [[adessive case|adessive]] ({{lang|fi|adessiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-lla}} / {{lang|fi|-llä}} || at, on || {{lang|fi|talolla}}, {{lang|fi| katolla}} || at a house, on a roof
|-
| [[ablative case|ablative]] ({{lang|fi|ablatiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-lta}} / {{lang|fi|-ltä}} || from || {{lang|fi|talolta}} || from a house
|-
| [[allative case|allative]] ({{lang|fi|allatiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-lle}} || onto, to || {{lang|fi|katolle}}, {{lang|fi|talolle}}, {{lang|fi|pojalle}} || onto a roof, to (the proximity of) a house, to a boy
|-
! colspan="5" style="background:#efefef" | Essive
|-
| [[essive case|essive]] ({{lang|fi|essiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-na}} / {{lang|fi|-nä}} || as || {{lang|fi|talona}} || as a house
|-
| [[translative case|translative]] ({{lang|fi|translatiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-ksi}} || into (the role of) || {{lang|fi|kouluksi}} || into (being) a school
|-
! colspan="5" style="background:#efefef" | Marginal
|-
| [[instructive case|instructive]] ({{lang|fi|instruktiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-n}}, {{lang|fi|-in}} || with (the aid of) || {{lang|fi|taloin}} || with the houses
|-
|| [[abessive case|abessive]] ({{lang|fi|abessiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-tta}} / {{lang|fi|-ttä}} || without || {{lang|fi|talotta}} || without a house
|-
| [[comitative case|comitative]] ({{lang|fi|komitatiivi}}) || {{lang|fi|-ne-}} || together (with) || {{lang|fi|taloineen}} || with their house(s)
|}
Some notes about the cases listed in the table above:
* The locative cases are also used for grammatical function, such as [[Benefactive case|benefactive]], dative (often in the allative), and other functions.
* There is historically some difference of opinion as to the character and indeed existence (for most words) of the accusative case in modern Finnish. The recent, authoritative grammar ''[[Iso suomen kielioppi]]'' takes the position that only the personal pronouns and the personal interrogative pronoun {{lang|fi|kuka}} have a true accusative case which is distinguished by the suffix {{lang|fi|-t}}. For nouns, adjectives, numerals, and other pronouns, there is no accusative case; instead, these words take the nominative or genitive in object positions (where they do not take the partitive). This differs from the more traditional view, to which many learners' grammars still adhere, that there are accusative forms that appear identical to the nominative or genitive. This traditional view is based on known diachronic phonological changes in the language.
* Marginal cases are mostly used in writing, or in the case of the instructive, in fixed expressions such as ''Vedä pyyhe molemm'''in''' käs'''in''''' ('Pull the paper towel using both hands') 
** A noun in the comitative case is always followed by a possessive suffix. However, as is typical in Finnish, an adjective does not take possessive suffixes: {{lang|fi|Mies ylellisine taloineen}} "A man with his luxurious house(s)", with comitative {{lang|fi|-ne}} on both the adjective and noun, but the third person possessive suffix {{lang|fi|-en}} on the noun only.
* Regarding the illative suffix {{lang|fi|-Vn}}: "V" stands in for a preceding (short) vowel: {{lang|fi|talo-Vn}} yields {{lang|fi|taloon}}, but {{lang|fi|kukka-Vn}} yields {{lang|fi|kukkaan}}.

==== Relationship between locative cases ====
As in other [[Uralic languages]], locative cases in Finnish can be classified according to three criteria: the spatial position (interior or surface), the motion status (stationary or moving), and within the latter, the direction of the movement (approaching or departing). The classification captures a [[morphophonology|morphophonological]] pattern that distinguishes interior and surface spatial position; long consonants ({{IPA|/sː/}} in {{lang|fi|-ssa}} / {{lang|fi|-ssä}} and {{IPA|/lː/}} in {{lang|fi|-lla}} / {{lang|fi|-llä}}) express stationary motion, whereas a {{IPA|/t/}} expresses "movement from". The table below shows these relationships schematically: 
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Schematic summary of locative cases
! rowspan="3" | Spatial position
! colspan="3" | Motion status
|-
! rowspan="2" | ''Stationary''
! colspan="2" | ''Moving''
|-
! '''''approaching'''''
! '''''departing'''''
|-
| '''''Interior'''''
| inessive ('in')<br/>{{lang|fi|-ssa / -ssä}}
| illative ('into')<br/>{{lang|fi|-Vn}}
| elative ('out of')<br/>{{lang|fi|-sta / -stä}}
|-
| '''''Surface'''''
| adessive ('on')<br/>{{lang|fi|-lla / -llä}}
| allative ('onto')<br/>{{lang|fi|-lle}}
| ablative ('off from')<br/>{{lang|fi|-lta / -ltä}}
|}