Definition & Meaning of "allative case"

What is the "allative case"?

The allative case is a grammatical case used to indicate movement toward a person, place, or thing. It shows the direction of an action or a relationship to a location, often translating to "to" or "toward" in English. The allative case is found in certain languages, such as Finnish and Hungarian, where it changes the form of nouns to reflect this direction. For example, in Finnish, the word for "house" changes from "talo" to "taloon" when expressing movement toward the house. This case helps clarify the action's destination in a sentence.