How does the Finnish plural look like?

suomiruli · Post by **suomiruli** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 2:13 pm

Another question about the finnish language again, which i can't find anywhere.. How does the plural form look like in finnish?
I know it is -t in the nominative, but how do you do that with the other cases?

I hope someone can tell me.

**Sponsor:**

khu · Post by **khu** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 2:37 pm

Oof, it's not that simple, unfortunately.

Actually the nominative case requires more than just +t in some cases, such as suomalais + et to form the plural of suomalainen.

As for the rest, tt's not taken on a case-by-case basis, but based on the morphology of the word (how it ends and whether there's a consonant that require degradation: (t -> d), for example).

http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~pamakine/kieli/su ... aloen.html
http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~pamakine/kieli/su ... varen.html

I don't pretend to know all of this, but I have used that site on occasion. Frankly, it's confusing as hell. Finns always claim their language is 'logical' -- true in the sense that there are generally clear rules. But the rules themselves are labyrinthine

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 11:59 pm

a t? where does that come in plural? I thought it was -a/ä

yksi kissa, monta kissaa

... ah, kissat - but thats more like the cats instead of two cats as kissoja is any/many cats

khu · Post by **khu** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 12:40 am

Yes, kissat is plural. -a/ä or -ta/tä, as in kissaa, is the partitive case.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 1:15 am

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 1:16 am

see now what you forget after you don't have to know it any more after 9th grade or so

BTW heres a bit on how the plural goes when you get into different cases, no t but the vowel changes to i
http://cc.oulu.fi/~mkarjala/soh2/soh1/soh1-gr8.htm

mookoo · Post by **mookoo** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:45 am

Yes, the plural is a bear in Finnish (grrrr)

because most people think that when you say "two cats" like in Hanks example, then the word "cats" is plural. In Finnish, when you use numbers you always have to use the partitive singular case. The ending you choose depends on the word ...

(1)Words ending in a single vowel A, O, U, Ö, Ä, and loan words ending in I.
add -a or -ä (hopefully you have read about vowel harmony)
kauppa = kauppaa
päivä = päivää
koulu = koulua
pankki (loan word) = pankkia

(2)Original Finnish words ending in I (except li, ri, ni, and si ... see below)
I is taken away and replaced with EA
Ovi = Ovea
Joki = Jokea
Suomi = Suomea

(3)Words ending in two vowels (can be same or different)
add -ta/tämaa = maata
puu = puuta
työ = työta
tie = tietä

(4)Old Finnish words ending in "li", "ri", or "ni"
take away the I and add ta/täkieli = kieltä
suuri = suurta
pieni = pientä

(5)Words ending in a consonant
add -ta/tämies = miestä
olut = olutta
tytär = tytärtä

(6)Words ending in -nen
replace -nen with -sta/stävalkoinen = valkoista
suomalainen = suomalaista
nainen = naista

(7)Words ending in E
add -tta/ttähuone = huonetta
vene = venettä

(8 )Original Finnish words ending in "si"
take away "si" and add -tta/ttäkäsi = kättä
vuosi = vuotta
vesi = vettä
kuukausi = kuukautta

Soooo, two cats is kaksi kissaa and not kaksi kissat! You also use partative with the words monta (many). Partative is also used when you are talking about something abstract or uncountable, and the word paljon (a lot of) can be used here. It is also used when you are describing something by the material it is made of. For example:

I have many cars = Minulla on monta autoa
You have two dogs = Sinulla on kaksi koiraa
I drink a lot of coffee = Juon paljon kahvia
I want (some) water = Haluan vettä
It is (made of) paper = Se on paperia.
It is Irish beer = Se on irlantilaista olutta.

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