Finnish - Word Cases - Grammatical Function



Finnish works the way that it adds something at the end of the word (and maybe change the middle of the word) to make it mean things like: location, possession, from, receipient, future, channel, how, ..., there is 16 of them - obviously I find this a little difficult!

I will try to make sense of them (or at least describe them) in this article series.

I put in some color coding to visualize the words in each sentence as they are translated - there might very well be some mistakes there - if you see one, please let me know :)

Cases expressing grammatical function

Nominative

Meaning/function: Base form / subject, object Singular ending: Ø Plural ending: -t Example: hotelli /t

Examples: Is the hotel open? - Onko hotelli auki? Are the hotels open? - Ovatko hotellit auki?

Genitive

Possession / object Ending: -n or -en Example: Hotellin / Hotellien

Examples: The names of the hotels are Vaakuna and Presidentti. - Hotellien nimet ovan Vaakuna ja Presidentti. Who owns this hotel? - Kuka omistaa tämän hotellin?

Accusative

Object of personal pronouns Ending: -t Example: hänet

Example: Do I know him/her - Tunnetko hänet?

Partitive

Meaning/function: vage amount, negative complement, greetings, etc Ending: -a/-ä and -(t)ta/ -(t)tä Example: rahaa, häntä, huonetta, taksia, päivää Examples:

I have (some) money. - Minulla on rahaa. I do not know him/her. - Minä en tunne häntä. I do not have a room yet. - Minulla ei ole vielä huonetta. There aren't any taxis in the street. - Kadulla ei ole vielä taksia. Hyvää päivää! - Good day!

Part two: Locative Cases Part three: Others Part four: Non-productive