The accusative is not a uniform morphological case form as such, but a
collective name given to a certain set of cases when they mark the object of
the sentence. These cases are: nominative singular, which of course has no
ending (Ø); genitive singular, with the ending -n; the -t accusative ending
peculiar to personal pronouns; and the nominative plural in -t. The
accusative, i.e. this set of case forms, appears as the case of the object in
opposition to the partitive.
The genitive, possessive suffixes and the accusative 101
When determining the particular case of the object one must first check
whether any of the conditions for the partitive hold (§33.2); if so, the object
must be in the partitive. The partitive is thus a ‘stronger’ object case than the
accusative. only after this, if none of the partitive object conditions are
fulfilled, can one proceed to determine which of the accusative endings is the
correct one.
The partitive object occurs in three instances: (a) in negative sentences, (b)
when the action expressed by the verb is irresultative, and (c) when the object
expresses an indefinite quantity.
(a) En tunne tuo/ta mies/tä. I don’t know that man.
Risto ei lue sanomalehte/ä. Risto does not read the newspaper.
(b) Reino lukee hyvä/ä kirja/a. Reino is reading a good book.
He katsovat ottelu/a. They are watching the match.
(c) Opiskelemme suomen kiel/tä. We study/are studying the Finnish
language.
Ostatteko olut/ta? Will you buy (some) beer?
The case of the object is therefore accusative only if (a) the sentence is
affirmative, and also (b) the action of the verb is resultative, or (c) the
object is a whole or a definite quantity. With respect to (c), the accusative
may be compared to the nominative when the nominative marks the subject
(§25.3).
Accusative object Partitive object
(a) Tuula kirjoittaa kirjee/n. Tuula writes a/the letter.
Tuula kirjoittaa kirje/ttä. Tuula is writing a/the letter.
Hän kantoi kassi/n kotiin. He carried the bag home.
Hän kantoi kassi/a. He was carrying a/the bag.
The object is in the partitive if any of the partitive conditions (§33.2)
hold; if not, the object takes one of the accusative endings (Ø, -n, -t).
The accusative expresses
(a) resultative action
(b) a whole or a definite quantity in affirmative sentences.
102 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
Suurensin valokuva/n. Suurensin valokuva/a.
I enlarged the photo (e.g. to I was enlarging a/the photo.
a given size). Or: I enlarged a/the photo (a bit, but
I could have made it bigger still).
(b) Ostin leivä/n. Ostin leipä/ä.
I bought the bread/a loaf of I bought some bread.
bread.
Syötkö kala/n? Syötkö kala/a?
Will you eat a/the fish? 1 Do you eat fish?
Tunnen ruotsalaise/t. Tunnen ruotsalais/i/a.
I know the Swedes. I know some Swedes.
All the accusative endings Ø, -n and -t share these basic meanings. The
following section deals with the factors determining when each of these
endings should be used.
