This article deals with the formation and use of the plural translative case. If you’re looking for the article on the singular translative case, click here.

If you’re just looking for a condensed version of this article, click here to get to the TL;DR (“too long; didn’t read”) version.

1. The Use of the Plural Translative Case (-ksi)

1.1. When a change of state happens

A “change of state” can be, for example, a change from water to wine, or from warm to cold. The verb muuttua “to change, to turn into” is the most typical for this type of sentence. We use the plural translative because the subject is plural. For example, the singular “Päivä muuttui kylmäksi” (the day turned cold) will become “Päivät muuttuivat kylmiksi” in the plural.

1.2. When a transition happens

A “change” (as seen in 1.1) and a “transition” (in this section) mean similar things. However, this section deals mostly with people and is often harder for students to grasp. When a person becomes unemployed, pregnant or an engineer, in the Finnish language, that’s also seen as a change: first you’re a student and, then, you are a graduated engineer. The plural is once again used when to subject is plural (e.g. “Tyttö pääsi ylioppilaaksi” becomes “Tytöt pääsivät ylioppilaiksi“)

Some verbs that are typical for this type of sentence are “päästä”, “opiskella”, “valmistua” and “joutua”. You can find some example sentences of these below. Learn more about translative rections in general here.

1.3. When expressing purpose

The translative is also used to express the intended role or purpose of something that has been made or developed in some way. For example, the singular “Nainen on koulutettu vakoojaksi” becomes “Naiset on koulutettu vakoojiksi” in the plural.

1.4. When expressing the time of a future event

When we want to express the time by which something will happen or is due to happen, the translative is also used. These expressions of time are usually cases where we know in advance when, and for how long, something is going to happen. When the amount of time something takes is plural, we will use the plural translative.

Note that this only happens with unspecified amounts! Adding a number will require the singular translative (e.g. Sotilas tuomittiin kahdeksi vuodeksi vankeuteen).

1.5. With translative verb rections

Some verbs will require the word connected to them to be inflected in the translative case. We call this phenomenon “verb rections”. The examples above already contain these types of verbs. You can find a more complete list of translative verb rections here.

The following table has examples with the plural translative because the entity that changes is plural (e.g. “girls” rather than “a girl”).

2. The Formation of the Plural Translative Case

The plural marker that all plural cases (so in addition to the plural translative this is also true for e.g. the plural partitive) have in common is an -i-.

2.1. Words ending in -u, -y, -o or -ö

Add the plural marker’s –i– to the weak stem (e.g. tyttö becomes tytö-) of the word.

2.2. Words ending in –ä

For words ending in –ä (note: only –ä not –a), you will remove the -ä when adding the plural marker’s –i. Remember consonant gradation: you need to make these words weak (e.g. leipä because leiviksi).

2.3. Words ending in –a

Just like in the other plural cases, we’re dividing words ending in –a in “kissa-words” and “koira-words”. These two words belong to different groups of words ending in -a. If you can remember “kissa – kissoiksi” and “koira – koiriksi” and apply that rule to other, similar words, you’re well on your way to mastering the plural translative case!

2.3.1. Kissa-words: -oi-

Kissa-words are words of two syllables. Their final letter is –a. In the first syllable, you will have either –e-, –i– or –a-. In other words, the vowels of these words can look like:

• a…a (kana, maksa, sana, marja)
• e…a (herra, tela, teema, leija)
• i…a (kissa, tina, hinta, silta)

When you inflect these words in the plural translative case, you will replace the final –a with –oi- before the –ksi.

2.3.2. Koira-words: -i-

Koira-words are also words of two syllables. Their final letter is also –a. They differ when it comes to the first syllable: for koira-words you will have either –o- or –u- in the first syllable. In other words, the vowels of these words can look like:

• o…a (koira, konna, honda, nokka)
• u…a (kukka, sukka, suora, juoma)

For koira-words, you will replace the final –a with –i– before adding the case ending.

2.4. Words ending in –i

Words ending in –i are also divided into several groups. I have a separate article all about old and new words ending in -i if you’re new to this concept.

2.4.1. New words ending in –i

For new words ending in -i, replace the basic form’s –i with –ei- before the translative case marker –ksi.

2.4.2. Old words ending in –i and –si

For the plural translative, we can combine old words ending in -i and -si into one group. As you can see from the table below, the singular forms of these two groups differ. In the plural, however, all these words look like the basic form of the word with –ksi added to the end.

2.5. Words ending in –e

For words ending in –e, the singular form will have –ee-, while the plural form has –ei– before the translative’s marker –ksi.

Note that words ending in -e belong to wordtype B. This means you will need to think of consonant gradation: the basic form of the word will be weak (e.g. one k) while the translative form will be strong (e.g. double kk).

2.6. Words ending in –nen

For these words, the singular translative has –se– and the plural form has –si-. Remove the –nen from the end of the word and replace it with –si– and –ksi.

2.7. Words ending in two vowels

For words ending in two of the same vowel (or a long vowel sound), you will remove the final vowel and replace it with the plural marker –i-.

2.8. Words ending in a diphthong

For words ending in a diphthong, you will remove the first vowel of the diphthong and add -i- to the end of the word before adding –ksi.

However, if the diphthong ends in an –i (e.g. täi), you will not remove the first vowel. For these words the singular and the plural forms look exactly the same.

2.9. Words ending in a consonant

2.9.1. Words ending in -as/äs

Words ending in -as (or –äs, depending on vowel harmony rules) will have –ai- instead of the basic form’s –as.

These words belong to wordtype B. This means they will have the weak grade in their basic form (e.g. rakas) and the strong grade in the plural translative (e.g. rakkaiksi). Read more about words ending in -As here.

2.9.2. Words ending in -is: two groups

For words ending in -is, we have two groups:

2.9.3. Words ending in –us/-ys/–os/-ös

Words ending in –Us and -Os can belong to two types. In the singular translative, these two types are inflected differently, as you can see from the examples. However, in the plural translative case, this difference disappears: both types get -Uksiksi in the plural.

2.9.4. Words ending in -ton/tön

Words ending in –ton/-tön undergo consonant gradation (wordtype B) in their stem, so you get -ttOmA- in the conjugated forms. In the plural, the –A– at the end of the stem gets replace by the plural’s –i- so you end up with a stem ending in -ttOmi-. Read more about words ending in -ton here.

2.9.5. Words ending in -in

In the singular conjugation, –in gets replaced with -ime-. In the plural, you get –imi– because the plural’s –i- replaces the singular stem’s –e-. Read more about words ending in -in here.

These words belong to wordtype B. This means they will have the weak grade in their basic form (e.g. keitin) and the strong grade in the plural translative (e.g. keittimiksi). Read more about words ending in -in here.

2.9.6. Words ending in -ut/-yt or -nut/-nyt

Words that end in -ut/yt can belong to two wordtypes. The smallest group of the two contains words such as olut, kevyt and lyhyt. For these words, you will replace the final -t with an –i- before the case ending. For example, the singular form olueksi becomes oluiksi in the plural.

The much larger group consists of NUT-participles such as väsynyt and tottunut. For these words, you will replace the -ut/yt with -ei- before the translative’s –ksi. For example, the singular form väsyneeksi because väsyneiksi in the plural.

2.9.7. Words ending in -tar/-tär

Words ending in –tar/-tär are pretty rare, but some common words like tytär (daughter) do exist. In the plural cases, these words get -ttari- in place of the basic form’s -tar. The double -tt- is because words ending in –tar/-tär undergo consonant gradation (wordtype B) in their stem, so you get -ttar- in the conjugated forms.

3. Consonant Gradation in the Plural Translative Case

For the translative case (both singular and plural) words belonging to wordtype A words will always become weak and wordtype B words will always become strong.

I have a separate article on wordtype A.

I have a separate article on wordtype B.

4. Summary

Related posts:

The Translative Case – ksi – Translatiivi Present Passive Participle Sentence Constructions Translative Verbs: Verbtype 6 and Others Finnish Sentence Types Expressing Change: Tuloslause vs. Muutoslause