Lähteä means “to leave” or “to go (away)”.

Sometimes “to go” is more natural in English: “lähden kalaan” / “I’ll go fishing” (“menen kalaan” is also possible here).

At railwaystations you can see signs saying “lähtevät junat” meaning “departures”. The noun is “lähtö” (a departure), and “lähtöruutu” means the starting point, square one.

Lähettää means literally “to make something to leave”, so it means “to send”. “Lähetän kirjeen ulkomaille” / “I’m sending a letter abroad”.

Lähde is a place, where the water is coming from, a spring or a fountain. It can be used also in an abstract sense, as “origin” or “source”

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