The cases of the object are partitive and accusative, as the cases of the subject
are nominative and partitive. The accusative object in some ways corresponds
to the nominative subject (for the different accusative endings see §38: the
most common is -n).
Accusative object
Minä ostan auto/n. I(’ll) buy a/the car.
Silja joi maido/n. Silja drank (up) the milk.
Osta auto. Buy a/the car.
Auto/t hankittiin halvalla. The cars were obtained cheaply
(lit. ‘One obtained…’).
Ostamme auto/t. We(’ll) buy the cars.
Like the nominative subject, the accusative object expresses a whole or a
definite quantity. The partitive usually expresses an indefinite quantity (Rule
(3) below), but as one of the object cases it also has other functions (Rules (1)
and (2)).
En osta auto/a. I don’t/won’t buy a/the car.
Pekka ei nähnyt Leena/a. Pekka did not see Leena.
Silja ei juo maito/a. Silja does not drink (the) milk.
En tunne Kekkos/ta. I do not know Kekkonen.
(1) The object of a negative sentence is in the partitive.
The partitive 85
Paavo ei syö puuro/a. Paavo does not eat (the) porridge.
Etkö opiskele suome/a? Don’t you study Finnish?
He eivät ymmärrä tä/tä. They don’t understand this.
En ole koskaan tavannut hän/tä. I have never met him/her.
Si/tä emme vielä tiedä. That we don’t know yet.
Janne ei lue sanomaleht/i/ä. Janne does not read (the)
newspapers.
En tunne no/i/ta mieh/i/ä. I don’t know those men.
Ettekö ole lukeneet nä/i/tä Haven’t you read these books?
kirjo/j/a?
This rule always applies. It makes no difference whether the meaning of the
object is definite or indefinite. The same negative sentence thus corresponds
to two different affirmative sentences.
In English this use of the partitive often corresponds to the progressive form
of the verb (‘be + -ing’); see the translation of the examples below. The
accusative, on the other hand, indicates that the action expressed by the verb
has led to an important result (is resultative).
Irresultative Resultative
(partitive object) (accusative object)
Tyttö luki läksy/ä. Tyttö luki läksy/n.
The girl was doing her The girl did (i.e. finished) her
homework (i.e. had homework.
not yet finished).
Väinö rakensi talo/a. Väinö rakensi talo/n.
Väinö was building a/the house.Väinö built a/the house.
Väinö rakentaa talo/a. Väinö rakentaa talo/n.
Väinö is building a/the house. Väinö will build a/the house.
(2)(a) The object is in the partitive if the action expressed by the verb
does not lead to any ‘important’ final result (i.e. the action is
irresultative).
86 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
Hän ajaa auto/a. Hän ajaa auto/n talliin.
He/she is driving a/the car. He/she drives the car into the garage.
Presidentti ampui lintu/a. Presidentti ampui linnu/n.
The president shot at (or: shot The president shot (and killed)
and wounded) a/the bird. a/the bird.
Kalle lämmittää sauna/a. Kalle lämmittää sauna/n.
Kalle is warming up the sauna. Kalle will warm up the sauna.
Many verbs are intrinsically irresultative, and their objects are thus generally
in the partitive. One important group of such verbs is those expressing an
emotion or state of mind.
rakasta/a love vihat/a hate
pelät/ä fear kaivat/a miss, long for
kunnioitta/a honour sur/ra grieve
arvosta/a value valitta/a complain
katu/a regret sääli/ä pity
kiittä/ä thank harrasta/a be interested in
kiinnosta/a interest huvitta/a amuse
miellyttä/ä please moitti/a blame
arvostel/la criticize haukku/a scold
loukat/a insult syyttä/ä accuse
uhat/a threaten kiusat/a annoy
Minä rakastan sinu/a! I love you!
Rakastan tuo/ta nais/ta. I love that woman.
Suomi kiinnostaa minu/a. Finland interests me.
Pelkäätkö koir/i/a? Are you afraid of dogs?
Ahtisaari kiitti hallitus/ta. Ahtisaari thanked the government.
Säälin hän/tä. I pity him/her.
Tauno kaipaa jo/ta/kin uut/ta. Tauno longs for something new.
There are also other verbs which have an irresultative meaning and therefore
very often take the partitive object. 3
jatka/a continue puolusta/a defend
verrat/a compare seurat/a follow
ehdotta/a suggest tarkoitta/a mean
vastusta/a oppose vaikeutta/a make difficult
edusta/a represent korosta/a emphasize
ajatel/la think heikentä/ä weaken
(2)(b) The object of verbs of emotion is in the partitive.
The partitive 87
Ajattelen sinu/a. I think of you.
Keihänen jatkoi tominta/a. Keihänen continued his business.
Joku seuraa minu/a. Someone is following me.
Voiko suome/a verrata ruotsiin? Can one compare Finnish to Swedish?
Mi/tä sinä tarkoitat? What do you mean?
Lipponen edustaa Lipponen represents the Social
sosialidemokraatte/j/a. Democrats.
Partitive object Accusative object
(indefinite quantity) (definite quantity)
Ostan jäätelö/ä. Ostan jäätelö/n.
I(’ll) buy some ice-cream. I(’ll) buy an/the ice-cream.
Pekka juo olut/ta. Pekka juo olue/n.
Pekka drinks beer/is drinking Pekka (will) drink a/the beer.
(some) beer.
Opitko suome/a? Opin suomen kiele/n.
Are you learning (some) Finnish? I learned the Finnish language.
(Also: Did you learn…)
Näen ihmis/i/ä. Näen ihmise/t.
I see (some) people. I see the people.
Tuula tapaa viera/i/ta. Tuula tapaa vieraa/t.
Tuula meets/is meeting some guests. Tuula meets the guests.
Nieminen myy metsä/ä. Nieminen myy metsä/n.
Nieminen sells/is selling some forest. Nieminen sells/will sell the forest.
