Finnish Noun Cases - Grammatical Cases

Grammatical Cases

The grammatical cases perform important grammatical functions.

Nominative

The basic form of the noun

Characteristic ending: none in the singular

'talo' = 'a/the house'

'kirja' = 'book'

'mäki' = 'hill'

'vesi' = 'water'

Genitive

Characteristic ending: -n possibly modified by consonant gradation: mäki -> mäen, talo -> talon. For the nouns and adjectives that have two vowel stems, the weak vowel stem comes from the genitive singular.

The genitive indicates possession. It is also used preceding postpositions. However, it is homophonous (but not cognate!) to the accusative, which may cause some confusion.

"kirja|n kuvat" = "the pictures in the book"

"talo|n seinät" = "the walls of the house"

"mäe|n päällä" = "on top of the hill"

"vede|n alla" = "under water"

Accusative

This case marks direct objects. The accusative indicates telicity; that is, the object has been finalized or the intended action is done. Note that a morphologically distinct accusative case exists in Finnish only for the following pronouns:

Singular

• minut = me
• sinut = you
• hänet = him/her

Plural

• meidät = us
• teidät = you
• heidät = them

Polite

• Teidät = you

Question

• kenet = whom

In contrast, regular nouns do not have a distinct accusative case. Instead, singular direct objects look like the genitive in direct address (Tuon maton "I'll bring the carpet") and in the nominative with both imperatives (Tuo matto! "Bring the carpet!") and passives (Matto on tuotu "The carpet has been brought"). Plural direct objects always appear in the nominative plural.

Traditionally, Finnish grammars have considered, on syntactic grounds, the accusative to be a case unto itself, despite its being identical to the nominative or genitive case. The recently published major Finnish grammar, Iso suomen kielioppi, takes a morphological point of view and does not list the accusative except for the personal pronouns and kuka, while at the same time acknowledging the argument for the traditional view. The existence or nonexistence of an accusative case in Finnish thus depends on one's point of view. Historically, the similarity of the accusative and genitive endings is coincidental. The older accusative ending was -m, but in modern Finnish an m has become an n when it is the last sound of a word.

Partitive

Characteristic ending: -ta/-tä, where the 't' elides if intervocalic. The consonant stem of a noun (if any) comes from the partitive singular. Otherwise the ending is added to the strong vowel stem.

The basic meaning of this case is a lack of telicity, that is, it is not indicated whether the intended result has been achieved. For example, Join vettä "I drank water-part." indicates that there is possibly some water left, while the accusative Join veden indicates all water has been consumed. It is not perfectivity. The partitive is the second most common case in Finnish. It has also other uses:

After numerals, except number 1:

• 'kolme talo|a' = 'three houses'
• 'kaksi las|ta' = 'two children'

For incomplete actions and ongoing processes whose ending or end result is unknown (the partitive object):

• "luen kirja|a" = "I'm reading a book"
• "hän opetti minu|a lukemaan" = "s/he was teaching me to read"
• "rakastan sinu|a" = "I love you"
• "ajattelin huomis|ta" = "I thought about tomorrow"

With nouns of indefinite number or substance nouns (the partitive object):

• "onko teillä kirjo|j|a?" = "do you have any books ?"
• "haluan vet|tä" = "I want some water"

For negative statements and for tentative enquiries (the partitive object):

• "talossa ei ole yhtään kirjaa" = "there is not a book in the house"
• "en nähnyt hän|tä" = "I didn't see him/her"
• "saanko lainata kirjaa?" = "can I borrow the book?"

With prepositions

• "ennen mäke|ä" = "before the hill"
• "ilman takki|a" = "without a coat"

Very rarely indicates location (coming from/ being found somewhere):

• "rann|empa|a" = "closer to the shore"
• "länn|empä|ä" = "further west"

The formation of the partitive plural is rather variable, but the basic principle is to add '-i-' to the inflecting stem, followed by the '-(t)a' partitive ending. However, in a similar way to verb imperfects, the '-i-' can cause changes to the final vowel of the stem, leading to an apparent diversity of forms.