Nouns: Nominative Case — Finnish Grammar

This is the plain form of a noun, the one a dictionary lists and the one every other form is built from. It carries no ending, and that absence is itself information: a noun with nothing on the end is the subject of its sentence, the one doing something.

Finnish nouns take a great many endings, and each ending assigns the word a different job. This is the starting point they all depart from.

The Subject of the Sentence

Koira nukkuu.
The dog is sleeping.
Juna tulee.
The train is coming.
Lapsi leikkii pihalla.
The child is playing in the yard.
Kahvi on kuumaa.
The coffee is hot.

The Predicate After "to be"

When you identify or classify the subject with (to be), the noun or adjective after it also stays bare. This is how you state professions, nationalities, and what something is.

Hän on opettaja.
He/she is a teacher.
Tämä on hyvä kirja.
This is a good book.
Minä olen suomalainen.
I am Finnish.

The Plural Subject (-t)

A plural subject adds -t straight onto the dictionary form. This -t serves the subject and the predicate only; in every other role a plural noun is built differently, around an -i-.

kissa → kissat
cat → cats
Lapset ovat koulussa.
The children are at school.
Kaupat ovat auki.
The shops are open.

As a Whole Object

The bare form also turns up as a complete object in two places where you might expect an ending: commands, and sentences about what someone must do.

Osta leipä!
Buy the bread!
Minun täytyy ostaa auto.
I have to buy a car.

The Exception After Numbers

After any number above one, the noun does not take the -t plural. It stays singular and switches to -a/-ä, the ending for an amount treated as open rather than counted out — which is what catches learners, since two cats are as countable as anything.

yksi kissa
one cat
kaksi kissaa
two cats (not "kissat")

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Finnish course

213 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 2. A few of them, with the words “Nouns: Nominative Case” is about in bold:

Tämä on ystäväni Anna. Hän on opiskelija.
This is my friend, Anna. She is a student.
Lesson 2
Tunnen oloni mahtavaksi! En ole sairas. Olen terve.
I feel great! I am not sick. I am healthy.
Lesson 64
Tämä vesi on kylmää. Tuo vesi on kuumaa.
This water is cold. That water is hot.
Lesson 68

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