In this article, we look at these three words: siinä, siitä and siihen, which are inflected forms of the demonstrative pronoun se. Siinä, siitä and siihen all can mean “there”, but are used in different contexts. You might want to get acquainted with the missä, mistä and mihin forms first.

This article focuses on cases where siinä, siitä and siihen are used on their own, without a noun attached to them. This is a pretty specific use of se which fits best in the tässä-täällä, tuossa-tuolla, siinä-siellä scheme of words to say “here” and “there”. The general use of se is as a pronoun attached to a noun, where it means “that” rather than “there” (e.g. se kirja, sitä kirjaa, siinä kirjassa).

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1. Siinä (missä?)
   1. Concrete meaning of siinä
   2. Abstract uses of siinä
2. Siitä (mistä?)
   1. Concrete meaning of siitä
   2. Abstract uses of siitä
3. Siihen (mihin?)
   1. Concrete meaning of siihen
   2. Abstract uses of siihen

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1. Siinä (missä?)

1.1. Concrete meaning of siinä (in there)

You will generally use siinä for a place that’s not visible from where you are. However, it’s also common to use siinä to express that something is somewhere near the listener, further from the speaker. As such, it’s possible that the listener can see it. The context will make clear where the “there” is.

Siinä refers to a relatively small area with clear borders. This is in contrast with siellä, which refers to a relatively expansive area without clear borders.

It’s pretty hard to find examples where siinä plainly means “there”. Most of the time, it means “in there”. It is also much more common with a noun attached to it.

1.2. Abstract uses of siinä

These phrases are very abstract, to the point where the English translation generally doesn’t include the word “there” at all. These phrases are pretty common, so they’re definitely worth getting acquainted with!

In addition to everything above, you could also check out phrases such as siinä tapauksessa, siinä määrin and siinä toivossa.

2. Siitä (Mistä?)

2.1. Concrete meaning of siitä (from there)

While this article deals with the use of siitä as an adverb, siitä is most often used in its literal meaning: as the pronoun se in the mistä form. It’s hard to find examples where it refers to a location.

When it does refer to a movement away from a place, it means “from there”. In the conversation, the listener is at the area in question, while the speaker is further removed from it. In theory siinä-siitä-siihen refer to an area that can’t be seen. However, in practice the speaker will see the area and the listener will be near the area.

2.2. Abstract uses of siitä

You’re most likely to find siitä used as a connective. Read more about connectives:

• Ylpeä siitä, että… – Connectives for adjective rections
• Riippumatta siitä… – Other connectives

3. Siihen (Mihin?)

You will use siihen for a small place with clear borders that’s not visible from where you are. Think for example the inside of a cupboard or a box in the bedroom. It’s common to use siihen to express a movement near the listener, which is further away from the speaker. As such, it’s possible that the listener can see it. The context will make clear where the “there” is.

Siihen is commonly accompanied by a noun. In these cases it is functioning as a demonstrative pronoun and less as an adverb. For all the concrete examples below, we can clearly think of a noun to add (e.g. siihen paikkaan, siihen kohtaan).

3.1. Concrete meaning of siihen (to there)

3.2. Abstract uses of siihen

You’re most likely to find siihen used as a connective. Read more about connectives:

• Totuin siihen, että… – Connectives filling in rections

That’s it for probably the hardest forms of the tässä-täällä-tuossa-tuolla-siinä-siellä series. I hope you have a better grasp on how to use the words siinä, siitä and siihen! You can find links to other related articles below!