Finnish Case System

1. FINNISH CASE
SYSTEM
15 GRAMMATICAL
CASES, CORRESPOND
TO PREPOSITIONS

2. SAUNA
 NOMINATIVE: SAUNA, SAUNAT (PL.) = THE BASIC
FORM, THE SUBJECT OF A SENTENCE
 GENITIVE: SAUNA + -N  SAUNAN = OF A SAUNA;
SAUNA’S
 ESSIVE: SAUNA + -NA  SAUNANA = AS A SAUNA
 ABESSIVE: SAUNA + -TTA  SAUNATTA = WITHOUT
A SAUNA
 COMITATIVE: SAUNA + - INEEN  SAUNOINEEN =
WITH ONE’S SAUNA(S)

3. INNER LOCATION
 INNESSIVE: SAUNA + -SSA  SAUNASSA = IN THE
SAUNA
 ELATIVE: SAUNA + -STA  SAUNASTA = FROM THE
SAUNA
 ILLATIVE: SAUNA + VV + N  SAUNAAN = TO THE
SAUNA

4. OUTER LOCATION
 ADESSIVE: SAUNA + -LLA  SAUNALLA = ON OR
AT A SAUNA, (CLOSE) BY A SAUNA
 ABBLATIVE: SAUNA + -LTA  SAUNALTA = FROM A
SAUNA
 ALLATIVE: SAUNA + -LLE  SAUNALLE = TO THE
SAUNA

5. PARTITIVE
 SAUNAA
 USED IN GREETINGS
 AS PLURAL WITH NUMBERS > 1 (2 SAUNAA)
 SOMETHING UNDEFINED
 A CONTINUING PROCESS OF DOING SOMETHING
 WITH CERTAIN VERBS

6. TRANSLATIVE
 SAUNAKSI
 -KSI
 INDICATES EITHER TRANSLATION (WHEN TALKING
ABOUT LANGUAGES) OR TRANSFORMATION
(INTO SOMETHING)
 AUTO MUUTTUU AURINGOSSA SAUNAKSI. (IN THE
SUN, THE CAR TURNS INTO A SAUNA.)

7. INSTRUCTIVE
 SAUNOIN
 -IN
 WITH (THE AID OF) SAUNA

8. ACCUSATIVE
 SAUNAN
 LOOKS LIKE GENITIVE BUT HAS A DIFFERENT
MEANING
 THE OBJECT IN SINGULAR: RAKENNAN SAUNAN.
(I’LL BUILD A SAUNA.) TILAAN KAHVIN. (I’LL ORDER
ONE COFFEE.)