Plural location cases
If you've come here, you must have learned about the singular location cases already. The plural ones are a bit more tricky, so it's important that you have no problem anymore with the singular forms before you start studying these.
This page deals with the plural forms of the inessive, elative, adessive, allative and ablative cases. The stem of the words you add these endings to is identical. This stem has been referred to on other pages of the website as the "plural stem". The plural illative is
not included, because it follows different rules.
Please note that the plural rules for long and short words are different. On this page you find the endings for short words, meaning words of one or two syllables. Long words can be found elsewhere.
1. Words ending in a single vowel (-u/-y, -o/-ö): add -i- after the basic word, but before the case ending
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| taulu |
tauluilla |
on the boards |
| talo |
taloissa |
in the buildings |
| ruusu |
ruusuista |
from the roses |
| hylly |
hyllyiltä |
from the shelves |
2. Consonant gradation
Wordtype A |
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| tyttö |
tytöille |
to the girls |
| puku |
puvuista |
out of the suits |
| hattu |
hatuilta |
from the hats |
| juttu |
jutuissa |
in the anecdote |
| |
|
|
|
Wordtype B |
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| opas |
oppailla |
on the guides |
| keitin |
keittimissa |
in the boilers |
| tavoite |
tavoitteille |
to the aims |
| varvas |
varpaista |
from the teeth |
3. Words ending in -ä: replace -ä- with -i- before the case ending
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| isä |
isillä |
on the fathers |
| kynä |
kynistä |
from the pens |
| pöytä |
pöydille |
onto the table |
| kenkä |
kengissä |
in the shoes |
4. Words ending in -a
4.1. Words of two syllables, with e, i or a in the first syllable and -a as endletter: replace -a- with -oi- before the case ending
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| sana |
sanoissa |
in the words |
| kissa |
kissoista |
from the cats |
| hinta |
hinnoilla |
on the prices |
| leija |
leijoille |
onto the kites |
4.2. Words with o or u in the first syllable and -a as endletter: replace -a- with -i- before the case ending
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| koira |
koirille |
onto the dogs |
| muna |
munissa |
in the eggs |
| kukka |
kukista |
from the flowers |
| loma |
lomilla |
on the vacations |
5. Words ending in -e: add -i- before the case ending
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| huone |
huoneissa |
in the rooms |
| kirje |
kirjeistä |
from the letters |
| parveke |
parvekkeille |
onto the balconies |
| koe |
kokeissa |
in the tests |
6. Words ending in -i
6.1. New words ending in -i: replace -i- with -ei- before the case ending
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| paperi |
papereille |
onto the papers |
| pankki |
pankeissa |
in the banks |
| tili |
tileiltä |
from the accounts |
| maali |
maaleista |
from the paints |
New words are words that haven't been around for ages yet. Usually they're recognizable because they're a loanword, like "pankki" for "bank", or "paperi" for "paper".
6.2. Old words ending in -i: keep the -i- before the case ending
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| ovi |
oville |
onto the doors |
| nimi |
nimissä |
in the names |
| lehti |
lehdillä |
on the leaves |
| pilvi |
pilvistä |
from the clouds |
Old words are very often nature words. After all, nature has been around for so long that Finns have had names for them since the very beginning. Some words are confusing, for example "äiti" (mother) is actually a new Finnish word!
7. Words ending in -nen: replace the -nen with -si before the case ending
For words ending in -nen, it doesn't matter how many syllables the word has. They all follow this rule.
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| nainen |
naisille |
to the women |
| eteinen |
eteisissä |
in the hallways |
| suomalainen |
suomalaisilta |
from the Finns |
| hevonen |
hevosilla |
on the horses |
8. Diphtongs ie, uo, yö: drop first vowel, add -i- and then the case ending
| Nominative |
Plural |
Translation |
| tie |
teillä |
on the roads |
| työ |
töissä |
at works |
| vyö |
vöille |
onto the belts |
| maa |
maista |
from the countries |
9. Words ending in in consonant: here
