Language/Finnish/Grammar/Nouns
Finnish nouns are written with small initial letter. They don't have gender. They are declined in two numbers (singular and plural) and in 15 (or 14, see below) cases.
Cases in standard Finnish
Example for 'kauppa' ("shop, transaction, commerce"):
| Case/Number | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | kauppa | kaupat |
| Genitive | kaupan | kauppojen |
| Partitive | kauppaa | kauppoja |
| Accusative | kauppa
kaupan |
kaupat |
| Inessive | kaupassa | kaupoissa |
| Elative | kaupasta | kaupoista |
| Illative | kauppaan | kauppoihin |
| Adessive | kaupalla | kaupoilla |
| Ablative | kaupalta | kaupoilta |
| Allative | kaupalle | kaupoille |
| Essive | kauppana | kauppoina |
| Translative | kaupaksi | kaupoiksi |
| Abessive | kaupatta | kaupoitta |
| Instructive | - | kaupoin |
| Comitative | - | kauppoine |
It is disputed, whether accusative really is case or not. Out of 15 (or 14 without accusative) cases, nominative, genitive, partitive, (accusative,) inessive, elative, illative, adessive, ablative, allative, essive and translative are in highly common use, whereas abessive, instructive and comitative are used significantly less and especially abessive and comitative may drop out of use in future, although it seems that new singular comitative case (likely then *kaupankaa, from colloquial 'kaupan kaa', kaa ('kanssa' in std Finnish) means "with") may be developing.
Usage examples
- Koira söi jäätelön ("Dog ate ice cream")
- 'Koira' in nominative singular and 'jäätelö' in accusative singular (or in genitive if accusative doesn't exist)
- Tämä on sinun syytäsi! ("This is your fault!")
- 'Syy' in partitive singular with possessive suffix '-si'
- [Needs expansion]
Cases in colloquial Finnish
Main colloquial variations of noun cases in colloquial Finnish include inessive 'kaupas(SNG)/kaupois(PL)' illative 'kauppaa/kauppoihi', adessive 'kaupal/kaupoil' and translative 'kaupaks/kaupoiks'. Abessive, instructive and comitative, already rare in standard Finnish, have even less use in colloquial Finnish. Other cases are as common (highly common) in both variants.