We present a comprehensive picture of the mechanisms driving the transition from subsonic to supersonic flows in tokamak plasmas. We demonstrate that supersonic parallel flows into the divertor volume are ubiquitous at low density and governed by the divertor magnetic geometry. As the density is increased, subsonic divertor plasmas are recovered. On detachment, we show the change in particle source can also drive the transition to a supersonic regime. The comprehensive theoretical analysis is completed by simulations in ITER geometry. Such results are essential in assessing the divertor performance and when interpreting measurements and experimental evidence. The generation of large-scale flows in laboratory plasma is a highly non-linear problem. In a standard fashion it is considered that the flows remain subsonic away from the wall, the occurrence of supersonic flows being singular. We show here that the geometrical features of key configurations for fusion plasma can lead to supersonic flows.