a. Alla, rest under. Pöydän alla, under the table. Paljaan taiwaan alla, under the open heaven. Also metaphorically, Hänellä on suuret maat allansa, large countries are under his dominion. Johdon alla, under the direction of. Oven suussa orren alla, Kal.
b. Alta, motion from under. Koira tuli pöydän alta, the dog came from under the table. Itse altansa, of oneself. Hän on mies itse altansa, he is a self-made man. Karhu nousi petäjän alta, the bear got up from under the fir tree.
c. Alle, motion to the place under an object. Koira juoksi pöydän alle, the dog ran under the table. Antaa asia toisten tuomion alle, to leave a thing to another person’s discretion. Kala ui sillan alle, the fish swam under the bridge.
d. Alitse or alatse, expressing motion across a space under an object. Lintu lensi auringon alatse, a bird flew under (or across) the sun. Yli kuun, alitse päivän, above the moon, but below the sun.
(2) From the nominative asen, place, come asemessa and asemesta, postpositions with genitive, in the place of, instead of. Miehen asemesta, leivän asemesta, instead of a man, bread, etc. Talon pojat suorittavat veronsa rahan asemesta viljassa, the peasants pay their taxes in corn instead of money.
(3) From esi, the space before an object, are formed the following postpositions which require the genitive before them.
a. Edessä, rest before. Hevonen on reen edessä, the horse is (harnessed) in front of the sledge. Älä seiso edessäni, do not stand before me. Pilvet ovat kuun edessä, there are clouds over the moon.
b. Edestä, motion from before. Siirtyä jonkun edestä, to move from before some one, to get out of the way. Edestä is also used somewhat loosely to express for, instead of, etc.; e.g. Kristus kuoli meidän synteimme edestä, Christ died for our sins. Tee se minun edestäni, do it instead of me, for me.
c. Eteen, the illative, expresses motion into the space before an object. Wiholliset seisahtuivat leirin eteen, the enemy marched up to the camp and halted. When used metaphorically, like edestä, it means for. Isä tekee työtä lastensa eteen, the father works for his children. Katsoa eteensä, to look before or take care.
d. Edellä expresses rest on a space before an object, and is nearly the same as edessä, the only difference being that between the inessive and adessive cases. He kävivät minun edelläni, they walked before me. Prepositionit käytetään partitivin edellä, prepositions are used before the partitive.