Finnish: geographical names
From UniLang Wiki
In Finnish, when you want to say:
in a geographical place x
to a geographical place x
from a geographical place x
you need to choose between two sets of cases: EITHER inessive, elative and illative OR adessive, ablative and allative. In most cases, the first set is used. The list below is here to help you memorize when to use the latter set.
Some of the most common geographical names that require the cases adessive, ablative and allative:
Some Finnish towns (no specific reason?):
Vantaa - Vantaalla
Tampere - Tampereella
Rovaniemi - Rovaniemellä
Rauma - Raumalla
Lohja - Lohjalla
Imatra - Imatralla
Kerava - Keravalla
Hyvinkää - Hyvinkäällä
Nokia - Nokialla
Pohjanmaa (a region) - Pohjanmaalla
Finnish towns (or villages) ending in:
-järvi ("lake"): Saarijärvi - Saarijärvellä
-koski ("rapids"): Valkeakoski - Valkeakoskella
-joki ("river"): Seinäjoki - Seinäjoella
-lahti ("bay"): Lapinlahti - Lapinlahdella
-mäki ("hill") Riihimäki - Riihimäellä
Some countries and islands:
Venäjä ("Russia") - Venäjällä
Filippiinit - Filippiineillä
Ahvenanmaa - Ahvenanmaalla
Kypros - Kyproksella
Kreeta - Kreetalla
Rodos - Rodoksella
And islands ending in:
-saari ("island"): Pääsiäissaarella
-saaret ("islands"): Kanariansaarilla
All mountains:
Alpit - Alpeilla
Himalaja - Himalajalla
Ruka - Rukalla
Notes:
1) In Finnish town/village names there may be exceptions, it really depends on the local people how they prefer it. Don't worry, even Finns make a lot of mistakes in this.
2) The names in the list above are given in nominative and adessive.
