The most important sub-group of these nominals is made up of those ending
in -nen, the type ihminen ‘person’.
The inflectional stem often ends in the vowel -e, and the final consonant
of the basic form alternates with other sounds.
The partitive singular is generally formed with the ending -ta ~ -tä,
which is attached directly to the basic form (cf. §19).
Consonant gradation affects the basic form and the partitive
singular.
The final vowel of the inflectional stem (usually -e) changes before
the plural -i-.
In ihminen nominals -nen changes to -se- in the inflectional stem; the
partitive singular is formed from the inflectional stem with the final -e
dropped.
The declension of nominals 51
Inflectional stem followed by:
Basic Case Partitive Plural Possessive
form (except suffix
part. sing.)
ihminen person ihmise/n ihmis/tä ihmis/i/ssä ihmise/ni
nainen woman naise/n nais/ta nais/i/ssa naise/ni
yleinen general yleise/n yleis/tä yleis/i/ssä –
hevonen horse hevose/n hevos/ta hevos/i/ssa hevose/ni
punainen red punaise/n punais/ta punais/i/ssa –
toinen another toise/n tois/ta tois/i/ssa –
jokainen every jokaise/n jokais/ta
