【芬兰语语法】§17 GENERAL

 Both nominals and verb forms are built up by the addition of endings to

stems. For nominals, in general the basic form itself functions as the stem,

and in many declension types the basic form remains unchanged when

endings are added: e.g. auto/n, auto/ssa, auto/on, auto/ni, auto/kin.

However, sound alternations may sometimes occur with certain endings; p, t

and k in the stem are subject to consonant gradation (§15), and the final

vowel may change or disappear when an -i- ending is added (§16).

A word may sometimes have different stems according to what kind of

ending follows. The different stems are formed via sound alternations. Often

the basic form (nominative singular), or the basic form and the partitive

singular have their own stems, and all other case, number and possessive

endings are attached to a second or third stem. This is called the inflectional

stem.

Nominals wher the basic form differs from the inflectional stem can

be divided into three groups. The first consists of nominals with a basic

form ending in -i and a corresponding inflectional stem in -e, e.g. kieli

‘language’ : kiele/n. The second group comprises nominals with a basic

form ending in -e and an inflectional stem in -ee, e.g. perhe ‘family’ :

perhee/n. Finally, in the third group the basic form ends in a consonant

which alternates with other sounds in the inflectional stem, e.g. kysymys

‘question’ : kysymykse/n.

In the following sections these groups are presented in turn. The

inflectional stem is represented by the genitive form, e.g. kiele/n, perhee/n,

kysymykse/n. Almost all the other forms can be made by replacing the

genitive ending -n by other endings, e.g. kiele/n, kiele/ssä, kiele/stä, kiele/

llä, kiele/ni, kiele/mme, etc. The following rule is therefore an important

one:

The declension of nominals 45

The rules of consonant gradation and vowel change affect both basic form

stems and inflectional stems.

Some examples now follow of how the inflectional stem kiele- is combined

with various nominal endings marking case, number and possession.

Basic form Inflectional

stem+case

kieli language kiele/n of the language

kiele/t languages

kiele/ssä in the language

kiele/stä out of the language

kiele/en into the language

kiele/llä with the language

kiele/lle to the language

kiele/nä as the language

kiel/tä language (part.)

Inflectional Inflectional

stem+plural stem+possessive

kiel/i/ssä in languages kiele/ni my language

kiel/i/stä out of languages kiele/si your language

kiel/i/in into languages kiele/nsä his/her/their language

kiel/i/llä with languages kiele/mme our language

kiel/i/nä as languages kiele/nne your language

kiel/i/lle to languages

Enclitic particles are attached directly to the inflected or uninflected form.

kieli/kin the language too

kiele/n/hän of the language+emph.

kiele/ssä/hän in the language+emph.

kiel/tä/kö? language? (part.)

kiel/i/ssä/hän in languages+emph.

kiele/ni/pä my language+emph.