Note regarding the examples: Finnish has no
grammatical gender nor
definite and indefinite articles. Thus, context may be required to get an accurate translation.
Grammatical cases The grammatical cases perform core linguistic functions such as signaling who initiates an action or the object of an action.
Nominative The basic form of the noun. :Characteristic ending: none in the singular : = 'a/the house' : = 'a/the book' : = 'a/the hill' : = '(the) water'
Genitive Characteristic ending: possibly modified by consonant gradation: . For the nouns and adjectives that have two vowel stems, the weak vowel stem comes from the genitive singular. :The genitive indicates possession. It is also used preceding
postpositions. However, it is homophonous (but not cognate) to the accusative, which may cause some confusion. : = 'the pictures in the book' : = 'the walls of the house' : = 'on top of the hill' : = 'under water' :Finnish also uses
possessive affixes together with the genitive case : = 'her/his house(s)'
Accusative This case marks direct objects. The accusative indicates
telicity; that is, the object has been finalized or the intended action is done. Note that a morphologically distinct accusative case exists in Finnish only for the personal pronouns and the personal interrogative pronoun: :Singular :* = me :* = you :* = you (polite) :* = him/her/it/them :Plural :* = us :* = you :* = them :Question :* = whom In contrast, nouns, adjectives, numerals, and other pronouns, do not have a distinct accusative case. Instead, singular direct objects look like the genitive in direct address ( "I'll bring the carpet") and in the nominative with both imperatives ( "Bring the carpet!") and passives ( "The carpet has been brought"). Plural direct objects always appear in the nominative plural. Traditionally, Finnish grammars have considered, on syntactic grounds, the accusative to be a case unto itself, despite its appearing identical to the nominative or genitive case. The major Finnish grammar
Iso suomen kielioppi, published in 2004, takes a morphological point of view and does not list the accusative except for the personal pronouns and , while at the same time acknowledging the argument for the traditional view. The existence or nonexistence of an accusative case in Finnish thus depends on one's point of view. Historically, the similarity of the accusative and genitive endings is coincidental. The older accusative ending was , but in modern Finnish an
m has become an
n when it is the last sound of a word.
Partitive Characteristic ending: , where the 't' elides if intervocalic. The consonant stem of a noun (if any) comes from the partitive singular. Otherwise the ending is added to the strong vowel stem. :The basic meaning of this case is a lack of
telicity, that is, it is not indicated whether the intended result has been achieved. For example, "I drank water-part." indicates that there is possibly some water left, while the accusative indicates all water has been consumed. It is not
perfectivity. The partitive is the second most common case in Finnish. It has also other uses: :After numerals, except number 1: :* = 'three houses' :* = 'two children' :For incomplete actions and ongoing processes whose ending or end result is unknown (the partitive object): :* = "I'm reading a book" :* = "s/he was teaching me to read" :* = "I love you" :* = "I thought about tomorrow" :With nouns of indefinite number or substance nouns (the partitive object): :* = "do you have any books?" :* = "I want some water" :For negative statements and for tentative inquiries (the partitive object): :* = "there is not a book in the house" :* = "I didn't see him/her" :* = "can I borrow the book?" :With
prepositions :* = "before the hill" :* = "without a coat" :Very rarely indicates location (coming from/ being found somewhere): :* = "closer to the shore" :* = "further west" The formation of the partitive plural is rather variable, but the basic principle is to add '-i-' to the inflecting stem, followed by the '-(t)a' partitive ending. However, in a similar way to verb imperfects, the '-i-' can cause changes to the final vowel of the stem, leading to an apparent diversity of forms.
Locative cases The most prototypical function of locative cases is to indicate location, as the name suggests. However, they are also used in a range of syntactic constructions, much like prepositions in Indo-European languages (e.g. ''We're *at* school
vs. We're good *at* math
, in which only the first at'' has a locative meaning). In Finnish, the suffix as a locative means "on (top)", but may function to code the idea of "being used as an instrument", e.g. "I write with a pen" (lit. 'I write pen-on'). Two different kinds of suffixes are used, the internal locatives (
-s-) and the external locatives (
-l-). The word in a locative case refers to the verb, for example, in the word "in the window" refers to the verb "I try on", not to the adjacent noun "pants". The sentence reads out as "I'm in the window, trying on pants". However, in context due to the instrumental nature of the window and the word order, the sentence stands for "I'm trying on pants (on display) in the window".
Internal locatives Inessive Characteristic ending added to the weak vowel stem. :The first of the six so-called "local" cases, which as their basic meaning correspond to locational prepositions in English. The inessive carries the basic meaning "inside" or "in" :* = "in the house" :It is also commonplace to indicate time or immediate contact with the inessive :* = "in December" :* = "on the Christmas tree"
Elative Characteristic ending added to the weak vowel stem. :The second of the local cases, with the basic meaning of "coming out from inside" or "out of" :* = "(they(sg.)) came out of the closet" :Like the inessive, the elative can also be used to indicate time or immediate contact. Can also indicate origin or cause. :* = "since last Christmas" :* = "get out of the bed" :* = "made of wool" :* = "green with envy" :The elative is also used to express a liking. :* = "I like coffee"
Illative The ending is usually
-Vn, where
V indicates the preceding vowel of the stem. Singular forms use the strong stem form. In cases where the genitive stem already ends in a long vowel the ending is (singular) and (plural). However, for words of one syllable the ending is always
-hVn and this form is also used in plural forms where the plural stem already contains a vowel (other than
i ) immediately before the plural
i. :Some dialects, such as Pohjanmaa, use the
-hVn more generally. :This is the third of the local cases, with the basic meaning "into" :* = "(he) went into the house"
- regular formation from -Vn :* = "into the water"
- regular formation from ,
strong singular stem vete- -Vn :* = "into the waters"
- regular formation from ,
plural stem vesi- -Vn :* = "to the moon" -
single syllable variation -hVn :* = "to London" -
long vowel stem variation from (London) -seen :* = "into the beautiful house" - has singular
stem -kaunii- therefore
-seen variation :* = "into the beautiful houses" -
plural -siin because of singular
-seen and plural -hVn due to the additional vowel i
in the plural stem "taloi" :The illative can also indicate close contact, time or cause :* = "until tomorrow" (from ) :* = "until spring" (from ) :* = "one can die of cold" :* = "the reason for, the cause of something"
External locatives Adessive Characteristic ending -lla/-llä added to the weak vowel stem. :The fourth of the local cases, with the basic meaning 'on top of' or 'in close proximity of' :* = "on the hill" :* = "at the door" :Adessive is also used with the verb 'olla' to indicate possession :* = "I have a book" :It can also indicate time, instrument, means or way :* = "in the morning" :* = "in the winter" (but note = "last winter") :* = "by bus" :* = "with a hammer" :* = "to walk on tiptoe/ on one's toes" :The adessive is very commonly used in a way that is equivalent to the Swedish preposition "med" (or English "with"), but this is traditionally deprecated as ungrammatical. :* = "we do not know with certainty" (cf. Swedish "med säkerhet") :* = "with love" (as a letter closing or greeting) :* = "pancakes with jam"
Ablative Characteristic ending added to the weak vowel stem. :The fifth of the local cases, with the basic meaning "from off of" - a poor English equivalent, but necessary to distinguish it from "from out of", which would be elative. :* = "from (off) the hill" :* = "(I) got up from the sofa" :* = "Liisa got the book from me" :The ablative can also indicate time and it can be used to convey information about qualities :* = "at eight (o'clock)" :* = (freely:) "they(sg.) have a pleasant appearance"
Allative Characteristic ending added to the weak vowel stem. :The sixth of the local cases, with the basic meaning "onto". :* = "onto the hill" :Another meaning is "to someone" or "for someone" (the grammatical role served by the
dative case in many other languages) :* = "I give the book to Liisa" :* = "a table for two" :* = "it is important to me" :With verbs of sensation, it is possible to use either the ablative or allative case :* = "(it) smells good" =="General locatives" and other cases==