【芬兰语语法】§26 SINGULAR AND PLURAL

 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