Nominals inflect for singular and plural. The singular always has no ending.
The plural has two endings, -t and -i-. The ending -t occurs only in the
nominative and accusative (§37, §38), and -i- in all other cases.
Singular Plural
Nominative talo house talo/t the houses
Genitive talo/n of the house talo/j/en of the houses
Partitive talo/a house talo/j/a houses
Inessive talo/ssa in the house talo/i/ssa in the houses
Elative talo/sta out of the house talo/i/sta out of the houses
Illative talo/on into the house talo/i/hin into the houses
Adessive talo/lla on the house talo/i/lla on the houses
Ablative talo/lta off the house talo/i/lta off the houses
Allative talo/lle onto the house talo/i/lle onto the houses
Essive talo/na as a house talo/i/na as houses
Translative talo/ksi to a house talo/i/ksi to (become) houses
This rule concerns the genitive plural and the partitive plural: hylly/j/en ‘of
the shelves’, hylly/j/ä ‘shelves’, pullo/j/en ‘of the bottles’, pullo/j/a ‘bottles’,
tyttö/j/en ‘of the girls’, tyttö/j/ä ‘girls’.
All plural forms are made from the inflectional stem (§18–20), and
before the plural -i- the vowel changes apply (§16). The table below
illustrates the formation of the plural.
Nominative Inflectional Nominative Inessive Vowel
singular stem (cf. §) plural plural change
(cf. §)
pullo bottle pullo/n – pullo/t pullo/i/ssa –
katu street kadu/n – kadu/t kadu/i/ssa –
maa country maa/n – maa/t ma/i/ssa 16.2
risti cross risti/n 18.1 risti/t riste/i/ssä 16.6
kivi stone kive/n 18.2 kive/t kiv/i/ssä 16.5
lehti newspaper lehde/n 18.2 lehde/t lehd/i/ssä 16.5
meri sea mere/n 18.3 mere/t mer/i/ssä 16.5
vesi water vede/n 18.4 vede/t ves/i/ssä 16.5; 18.4
kone machine konee/n 19 konee/t kone/i/ssa 16.2
liike movement liikkee/n 19 liikkee/t liikke/i/ssä 16.2
työ work työ/n – työ/t tö/i/ssä 16.3
hai shark hai/n – hai/t ha/i/ssa 16.4
The plural -i- changes to -j- between two vowels.
68 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
Nominative Inflectional NominativeInessive Vowel
singular stem (cf. §) plural plural change
(cf. §)
seinä wall seinä/n – seinä/t sein/i/ssä 16.7
vanha old vanha/n – vanha/t vanho/i/ssa 16.8
tavara thing tavara/n – tavara/t tavaro/i/ssa 16.8
koira dog koira/n – koira/t koir/i/ssa 16.8
ihminen person ihmise/n 20.1 ihmise/t ihmis/i/ssä 16.5
vanhus old person vanhukse/n 20.2 vanhukse/t vanhuks/i/ssa 16.5
taivas heaven taivaa/n 20.3 taivaa/t taiva/i/ssa 16.2
rikas rich rikkaa/n 20.3 rikkaa/t rikka/i/ssa 16.2
totuus truth totuude/n 20.4 totuude/t totuuks/i/ssa 6.5;
ks: 20.4
avain key avaime/n 20.5 avaime/t avaim/i/ssa 16.5
työtön unemployed työttömä/n 20.6 työttömä/t työttöm/i/ssä 16.7
jäsen member jäsene/n 20.7 jäsene/t jäsen/i/ssä 16.5
mies man miehe/n 20.8 miehe/t mieh/i/ssä 16.5
There are many nouns which appear only in the plural even though they refer
to a singular concept. Plural words of this kind include:
Nominative plural Inessive plural
kasvot face kasvoissa
housut trousers housuissa
sakset scissors saksissa
kärryt cart kärryissä
häät wedding häissä
tanssit dance tansseissa
arpajaiset lottery arpajaisissa
