  Finnish is called an agglutinative language; that is to say, the words, as they appear used in a sentence, are formed of roots, to which have been added certain terminations: thus taloiltansa, meaning from his farms, is made up from the root talo, and the suffixes i (a sign of the plural), -lta (giving the idea of from), and -nsa (his). Every root in Finnish ends in a vowel or a diphthong. In adding suffixes to a root the rules for the changes of letters must be carefully observed. The result of applying them is that from the original full root there may be produced three modifications:— (1) The closed form. Root vete, water, closed form veden. (2) The shortened form, paimen for paimene. (3) A form both closed and shortened. tantere, nominative tanner. Declension.The Finnish noun is declined by adding suffixes to the root, which undergoes any modifications required by the rules of Euphony. There are fifteen cases, which, with the exception of the nominative, may be regarded as the noun followed by a preposition, or rather postposition. The Finnish word maalta corresponds to the English from land, only the from is put after land, and the two are written as one word. maalta is analogous to such an expression as the Greek ??? ?p?, only that in this case we have both a case-form and a postposition. Most of the terminations have two forms, one with a hard, one with a soft vowel. Roots with hard vowels take the hard termination, those with soft, the soft ones. Thus we find maa-ssa, but tyÖ-ssÄ. These fifteen cases are as follow:— (1) The nominative has no suffix, though it does not always represent the pure root. In maa, land, the two are identical, but the roots kÄte, vete, vieraha produce the nominatives kÄsi, vesi, vieras. (2) The partitive is formed by the suffix ta, tÄ or a, Ä. It may be roughly described as answering to a noun preceded in English by the word some, or in French by the partitive article. LeipÄÄ, some bread, du pain; vettÄ, some water, de l’eau. (3) The genitive is formed by the suffix n. Puun, of the tree. The Finnish genitive really represents two cases, the genitive and accusative, which have become confused in one form. (4) The inessive expresses the place, in which anything takes place, and is formed with the suffix -ssa, -ssÄ. MissÄ, where (in what); kirkossa, in the church. (5) The elative expresses the place from which motion takes place, and is formed with the suffix -sta, -stÄ. MistÄ, whence (from what); kirkosta, from the church; talosta, from the farm. (6) The illative is formed by adding to the root the consonants h—n, between which is inserted the last vowel of the root, or, if it ends in a diphthong, the second vowel in that diphthong. Talo, talohon; metsÄ, metsÄhÄn; tyÖ, tyÖhÖn. Generally the termination is shortened by the omission of h, and we have forms like taloon, metsÄÄn. It expresses the place into which motion takes place. (7) The adessive is formed with the suffix -lla, -llÄ, and signifies the place on which, or the object with which, anything is done. Lattialla, on the floor; kÄdellÄ, with the hand. (8) The ablative is formed with the suffix -lta, -ltÄ, and expresses motion from. Maalta, from the land; pÖydÄltÄ, from the table. (9) The allative expresses motion towards, and is formed with the suffix -lle. Pellolle, to the field; rannalle, to the shore. (10) The abessive is formed with the suffix -tta. It expresses the absence of something; rahatta, without money. (11) The prolative is formed by adding the syllable -tse, and expresses motion along; talotse, along the farm. In modern Finnish it is rarely used in the singular. Maitse, meritse, by land, by sea. (12) The translative is formed with the suffix -ksi. It generally is used to express some change in the form of existence. HÄn tuli sotamieheksi, he became a soldier. (13) Whereas the essive, formed by adding -na or -nÄ to the root, expresses a state of being regarded as continuous. Lapsena, as a child. (14) The comitative is formed with the syllable -ne, and is generally used in the plural, and with a possessive affix. Lapsine (or oftener lapsinensa), with his children. (15) The instructive is formed by simply adding the letter n to a root, and expresses the means by which anything is done. KÄsin, with the hands. The singular of the instructive is only used in poetry. There are two numbers in Finnish, the singular and plural. For the singular, the suffixes are added directly to the root: to form the plural other letters are also added. A. The nominative plural is formed by adding t to the root, e.g. root and nominative sing. maa, nominative plur. maat; root and nominative sing. pata, nominative plur. (by rule B. The other cases, with the exceptions below mentioned, simply add i to the root, which suffers the necessary phonetic changes, and then take the same suffixes as the sing. Maa, inessive sing. maassa, inessive plur. maissa ( C. But the genitive plural is formed with the suffix -ite (apparently a combination of the two suffixes i and t(e) above mentioned), placed before the case suffix -n. This suffix is found in three forms:— (1) ite + n becomes regularly -iden, maiden. (2) Monosyllabic roots and polysyllabic roots ending with (3) The t drops out and the suffix becomes simply -ie-n, e.g. jalka-iten becomes (rule Most of the cases above enumerated are common to nearly all the Finno-Ugric languages, though the same suffixes are used with rather different meanings. The suffix -na, called here essive, is used in most other languages of the family as a locative, and a few traces of this use are preserved in Finnish, e.g. kotona, at home, ulkona, out of doors, (olla) lÄsnÄ, to be present, takana, behind, tÄnÄ pÄnÄ, tÄnÄÄn, to-day. No accusative is usually given in Finnish grammars, because this case coincides with the genitive in the sing., and with the nominative in the plural. The accusative sing. is, however, etymologically a distinct formation, with the termination m or ma, as is proved by a comparison of the other languages of the family (Ostiak and Vogulian ma, me, or m; Tcheremissian and Syrjenian m). As m cannot be a final in Finnish, it becomes n, and the case is indistinguishable from the genitive. There is also an accusative in -t, found in the pronominal declensions of Finnish, Ostiak, Syrjenian, and Mordvinian. It is supposed to represent the demonstrative pronoun ta suffixed to a word, and perhaps stands for -nt. Another case which occurs sporadically, though not usually given in grammars, is the Excessive, ending in -nta. This termination is much used in the dialect spoken about St. Petersburg, and is even employed by some writers. It expresses departure either from a place or a state; e.g. kotonta, from home; hÄn jÄi palvelijanta, he gave up being a servant. Another sporadic case is an allative or dative ending in -nne, -ne, or -n. Its original form seems to have been -nek, for in the Savo-dialect we find tuonnek, tÄnnek instead of the ordinary tuonne, tÄnne, thither, hither. In written Finnish this termination is only used in a few adverbs, as sinne, thither, muuanne, to another place. Alle, pÄÄlle, and ylle are also apparently for al-ne, pÄÄl-ne, yl-ne. In the expression Jumalan kiitos, thanks be to God, Jumalan appears to be really this case, and similar strange uses of an apparent genitive in old writings are no doubt to be explained the same way. It will be observed that the local cases are arranged in two sets of three, one characterised by the presence of s, the other by that of l. We have:—
The Essive in na and Excessive in n-ta are parts of a similar set. The case called adessive (-lla) is also used as an instrumental, and probably represents two original cases. The primitive form of the abessive appears to have been taka or taha, which is considered by some as identical with the word taka, back. Besides the regular termination in -tta, the forms -ta and -t are found in dialects, and -ti in some adverbs; ÄÄneti, silently; huoleti, carelessly. Closely connected with the abessive are the caritive adjectives ending in -ttoma. The prolative, though generally counted as one of the The plur. inflection of the Finno-Ugric languages, gives three suffixes, t, k, and i, of which t and i are found in Finnish. It has been suggested that the t and k are really identical, k not being allowable as a final letter. It is not improbable that i may be the remains of a k weakened to j (cf. There are no genders in Finnish. The simplest way of dividing the declensions is by the form of the Partitive case. The first declension has the partitive ending in ta or tÄ, after a long vowel or diphthong. The second has the partitive ending in a or Ä, after a short vowel. The third has the partitive in ta or tÄ, after a consonant. The First Declension.This declension includes all words ending in a long vowel or a diphthong. It has the following characteristics:— (1) The partitive sing. has the suffix ta or tÄ, after a long vowel or diphthong. (2) The nominative sing. is the same as the root. (3) No change of consonants takes place in the root. (4) The genitive plur. is found ending in -iden or -itten, before which the last vowel of the root is rejected by rule (5) Monosyllabic roots form the illative in h—n, the last vowel of the root being between the two consonants: tÄi, tÄihin; jÄÄ, jÄÄhÄn. But dissyllables ending in a long vowel, e.g. harmaa, ehtoo, have the illative sing. in -sen and the illative Example of a noun of first declension with a hard vowel. Puu, a tree:—
There is nothing to be remarked on the declension of this word, except that in the plur. the diphthong uu is shortened to u before the vowel i; puissa, etc., and not puuissa. The declension of a noun with a soft vowel, e.g. tyÖ, work, is exactly analogous, except that the suffixes have the soft forms -ssÄ, -stÄ, etc.
According to rule The Second Declension.The second declension has the following characteristics:— (1) The partitive sing. ends in -a or -Ä (-ta, -tÄ) after a short vowel. (Polysyllables have often -ta, -tÄ.) (2) The nominative has the same number of vowels as the root, and generally preserves those vowels unaltered except that the final a or Ä of comparatives and final e become i. (3) The illative sing. ends in the last vowel of the root doubled with n suffixed; kirkkoon, not kirkohon. (4) The genitive plur. generally ends in -jen or -en, as described above. In the ordinary language this -en is further weakened to -in after the vowel of the root, unless that vowel is itself i. (5) Hard consonants at the beginning of the last syllable are of course softened by rules This declension comprises— A. Roots ending in the vowels o, Ö, u, y, which never change. Example:—Aurinko, the sun.
Here in the majority of cases the k is weakened to g, because the syllable which it commences becomes closed containing a single vowel or a diphthong formed by that vowel with the i of the plural; but the k remains in such places as the illative, where the syllables remain open. The original form of the genitive plur. would be aurinkoiten. This is weakened to auringoiden. Then the d dropping out we have aurinkojen, aurinkoen, or aurinkoin. Luettu (past participle), meaning read, is thus declined:—
Here tt is weakened to t when the syllable becomes closed (rule The declension of words with soft vowels is precisely similar, except that the suffixes have soft vowels. ElÄimistÖ, animal kingdom, lyÖty, struck.
Here the t of lyÖty is weakened when the syllable is closed, but the t of elÄimistÖ remains, being preceded by s and consequently unchangeable. B. All roots ending in a, Ä, except superlatives for adjectives, e.g. pata, a pot. In this declension the final a frequently becomes o in the plural by rule
Such words as sota, war, korva, the ear, do not change the final a to o in the plural.
Polysyllabic nouns are declined as follows:—
Similarly, IsÄntÄ, a father of a family, makes isÄntÄÄ, isÄnnÄn (t becoming n by rule Comparatives whose root ends in -mpa, -mpÄ, change the final vowel to i in the nominative sing.; e.g. parempa, better. Nominative parempi, partitive parempaa or parempata, genitive paremman (by rule C. All roots ending in -i. The root of the plural ends in the diphthong ei or short i, e.g. kaupunki, a town.
Here k becomes g when the syllable is closed, and ii in the plur. ei ( D. Dissyllables ending in the vowel e, preceded by k, p, v, a doubled consonant, or two consonants of which the last is h, j, or m; that is to say, roots like reke, nukke, hanhe, kolme, pilve, etc. A few words coming under none of these heads also belong to this declension. a. With a few exceptions the final e becomes i in the nominative sing. b. The plur. stem ends in simple i ( LÄpe, a hole.
P is weakened to v in the closed syllables ( Reke, a sledge.
K is dropped by rule The Third Declension.The third declension has the following characteristics:— (1) The partitive sing. ends in ta or tÄ after a consonant. (2) The nominative sing. is never the same as the root. (3) The root is closed in the partitive sing. and first form of the genitive plur., and sometimes in the nominative and essive sing. The nouns belonging to this declension may be classed under two divisions. First Division.This comprises all words belonging to this declension which have the illative sing. ending in a doubled vowel and n. To this class belong— I. Dissyllabic roots ending in e preceded by h, l, n, r, s, t, lt, nt, or rt, and all roots ending in -hte, -kse, -pse, -tse. E.g. Vete, water.
In the nominative sing. te becomes si by rule The stem miehe, man, forms the nominative mies, partitive miestÄ, genitive miehen, inessive miehessÄ, etc. Plur. miehet, genitive miesten, partitive miehiÄ, inessive miehissÄ, etc. Toise, second.
Roots ending in se change this termination in the nominative to nen. Thus kirjase, a little book, venÄlÄise, Russian, iloise, glad, vihollise, hostile, form in the nominative kirjanen, venÄlÄinen, iloinen, vihollinen. In all such words the partitive sing. and first genitive plur. are formed from the closed root and the essive sing. has two forms. II. All words of more than one syllable ending in -e. E.g. Root:—Kolmante, third.
Here (1) the e is rejected in the nominative (rule Similarly kannukse, a spur, makes in the nominative kannus (rules Kalleute, dearness, makes in the nominative sing. kalleus ( Adjectives like lyhyte, short, ohute, thin, drop the t altogether between two vowels. E.g. nominative sing. lyhyt, partitive lyhyttÄ. But the genitive lyhyte-n becomes lyhyen, the illative lyhyteen, lyhyeen, etc.; plur. lyhyet, genitive lyhyitten, lyhytten, partitive lyhyitÄ (or lyhyviÄ for lyhyiÄ). III. All superlatives in -mpa or -mpÄ, and all negative adjectives in -ttoma. The termination -mpa is shortened to n ( E.g. suurimpa, very large:—
In the plural the final a is lost before the i ( So also viattoma, guiltless (the termination -ttoma corresponds to the English termination -less, or the prefixes un-, in-). In Nom. viaton, a being lost, m becomes n, and the syllable being thus closed tt becomes t. Partitive from the same shortened root viatonta. Genitive, etc. viattoman, etc., nominative plur. viattomat, genitive viatonten, viattomain or viattomien, partitive viattomia, etc. Second Division.(1) The illative sing. ends in -sen, the illative plur. in sin, or hin. (2) The shortened form of the root is always employed in the nominative sing., which ends in s, t, or the aspiration. (3) The plural is formed from the shortened root, and the stem ends in a long diphthong of which the last letter is i. (4) The partitive plur. after this diphthong has the termination -ta, -tÄ. (5) The second genitive plur. ends in -den (-tten). This class is composed of what are called contracted nouns (rule
In poetry we also find a declension: uros, vieras, genitive urohon, vierahan, etc., illative urohosen, vierahasen, plur. urohot, vierahat, urohissa, vierahissa, etc., so that it is clear the roots are uroso, vierasa, being weakened. Analogously are declined such words as terve, healthy, kevÄt, spring.
Stems ikehe, a yoke, okaha, point or prickle.
Vapaa, free, koree, beautiful (for korea).
Participles whose nominative ends in nut or nyt (that is past active participles), like oppinut, lyÖnyt, form the genitive, inessive, etc., from a root ending in nehe, contracted nee; but the nominative and partitive sing., and one form of the essive sing. and genitive plur. are formed from a root ending in ute, yte, which loses its final vowel.
So also lyÖnyt, partitive lyÖnyttÄ, genitive lyÖneen, inessive lyÖneessÄ, essive lyÖneenÄ, or lyÖnynnÄ; plur. nominative lyÖneet, partitive lyÖneitÄ, genitive lyÖnytten or lyÖneiden, etc. Compound Nouns.Finnish, especially the modern literary dialect, abounds in compound nouns, in which the last word of the compound is defined by that which precedes it, so that the first word is practically an adjective. Thus in pÄÄkaupunki, a capital, kaupunki means a town, and the word pÄÄ, a head, describes what sort of town is intended. So also rautatie, a railway, from rauta, iron, and tie, a road; tullihuone, a custom house; puutarha, a garden (puu, a tree, tarha, an enclosure), kirkkotarha, a churchyard (kirkko, church, tarha, enclosure). Sometimes the first word is an adjective, as omatunto, conscience, from oma, own, and tunto, feeling. This is written as one word, because omatunto conveys a different meaning from the separate words oma and tunto. When a compound is made up of more than two words, all but the last may be regarded as a single word qualifying the last, and then be decomposed in their turn. For instance in ylioppilaskirjasto, University students’ library, kirjasto, library, is qualified by ylioppilas, describing what kind of a library is meant, and in this word ylioppilas, oppilas, student, is particularised by the addition of yli. Similarly isÄnmaanrakkaus, patriotism, is composed of isÄnmaa, fatherland, and rakkaus, love, and isÄnmaa again is composed of isÄ, father, and maa, land. Generally the first word of a compound is used in the nominative case. Sairashuone, a hospital (stem sairaha). Frequently, however, it is in the genitive, this case being either (a) descriptive, as in maantie, highroad, literally road of the land: talonpoika, peasant, literally son of a farm; (b) subjective, that is to say, if the compound were developed into a phrase the word in the genitive would become the subject, as kuunvalo, moonlight; (c) objective, that is to say, if the compound were developed into a phrase the word in the genitive would become the object, hatuntekijÄ, a hatmaker. More rarely other cases are used, as toimeentulo, subsistence, kuntoonpano, arrangement, accomplishment. As a rule, only the last word of a compound is declined, the preceding member remaining unaffected by inflection. But if the first member is an adjective, then both parts of the word receive inflections, e.g. vierasmies, a stranger, forms the genitive vieraanmiehen, inessive vieraassamiehessÄ, etc. But vierasmiehen is not wrong. |
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