This article deals with the plural nominative (often called the T-plural, or T-monikko in Finnish). This is a topic that can (and should be) addressed at many levels in your Finnish studies. If you’re a beginner, you should perhaps just remember that the T-plural is used for plural subjects, and leave the rest of this topic for a later point of your studies.

The T-plural is not the only plural in Finnish. There are plural forms of all the Finnish cases (e.g. plural genitive, plural -ssa, plural illative). However, those are advanced topics. You can deepen your understanding of the difference between the plural forms when you’re learning the plural partitive for example (T-plural vs plural partitive).

1. Usage of the T-Plural

The T-plural is used to express that there is more than one of something. This might sound simple, but Finnish is a complicated language. There are multiple situations where you will not use the T-plural to express plurality. So let’s take a look at when you will need it.

1.1. With plural subjects

The plural subject of a sentence will appear at the beginning of a sentence in its plural form.

1.2. When your plural refers to ALL items

The opposition between the partitive plural and the T-plural is as follows: you will use the T-plural when you are referring to all objects, while you use the partitive plural for many but not all. In some cases, the T-plural will not refer to all, but just to a specific set that we have talked about before (e.g. not all the bikes, but all the bikes we talked about earlier).

1.3. With plurale tantum words

“Plurale tantum” words are words that are always plural, despite their meaning being singular. This is the case for many celebrations and clothing items.

1.4. With things that are mirrored

Some things just naturally come in pairs. That’s the case for example for socks and eyes. In addition, there are quite a few things that seem to consist of a pair. These often have the same thing mirrored. Think for example of the two sides of your glasses or the way scissors consist of two blades. Most of these are also plurale tantum words, when they form a whole.

1.5. When NOT to Use the T-Plural

The plural nominative shares some of its functions in English with different cases. For example:

• After numbers you use the partitive (e.g. kaksi autoa “two cars”) instead of the T-plural (e.g. kaksi autot).
• When you mean many rather than all, you will use the plural partitive (e.g. Syön mansikat “I eat (all) the strawberries” vs Syön mansikoita “I eat (some) strawberries”).
• In existential sentences we generally (not always!) use the plural partitive (e.g. Talossa on vieraita. “There are guests in the house”).
• When you’re forming a negative sentence, the object will be in the plural partitive (e.g. Syön omenat “I eat the apples” vs En syö omenoita “I don’t eat (the) apples”).

2. The Formation of the T-Plural

The marker of the T-plural is always –t. Words undergo certain changes when you add the –t to the end of them.

2.1. Words ending in a vowel (-a/-ä, -u/-y, -o/-ö): add –t

This is also true for some words ending in -i, but they generally have a different rule. See below!

2.2. Words ending in -e: add an extra -e- + -t

Words ending in -e belong to wordtype B, which means their basic form will be weak (e.g. parveke, koe) and their T-plural strong (e.g. parvekkeet, kokeet).

2.3. Words ending in -i

You can read more about the difference between the different kinds of words ending in -i here.

2.3.1. New words ending in -i: add -t

New words are often loanwords. Usually they’re recognisable because they resemble words in other languages, like “pankki” for “bank”, or “paperi” for “paper”. Loanwords are easier than Finnish words because they don’t undergo as many changes when you add endings.

2.3.2. Old words ending in -i: replace -i- with -e- and add -t

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’ age can be confusing, for example “äiti” (mother) is actually a new Finnish word, even though mothers have been around since the beginning of time!

This section combines words belonging to the OVI-type and the PIENI-type into one because these types undergo the exact same change when inflected in the illative case.

2.3.3. Old words ending in -si: replace -si- with -de- and add -t

More old words, but this time with –si at their end. This group has its own additional change.

I have a more extensive list of words that belong to this type here.

2.4. Words ending in a consonant

2.4.1. Words ending in -nen: replace the -nen with -se + -t

This is the same change that –nen words go through when being used in any case except the partitive.

2.4.2. Words ending in -as: replace -as with -aa- + -t

Words ending in -as (or -äs, depending on vowel harmony rules) belong to wordtype B, so they will have the weak grade in their basic form (e.g. rakas, opas) and the strong grade in their T-plural form (e.g. rakkaat, oppaat).

You could also check out the separate article on words ending in -As

2.4.3. Words ending in -is: two groups

For words ending in -is, we have two groups: words like kallis that get -ii- when inflected, and words like roskis that get -ikse- when inflected.

2.4.4. Words ending in -os/-ös: replace –os with –okse– and add -t

Words ending in -os and –ös will respectively get -okse- and –ökse– when inflected.

2.4.5. Words ending in -us/-ys: two groups

Words ending in –us can belong to two groups: some get -ukse-, others get -ude- before the T-plural’s -t. This depends on whether the word is derived from an adjective (e.g. pimeä > pimeys) or not. Words which have been derived from an adjective get –ude-, while other words get –ukse-. You will want to check out this article to get the specifics.

Some general guidelines:

• If the word is based on a verb (such as opettaa > opetus), it will generally get –ukse-.
• If the word is based on an adjective (such as pimeä > pimeys), it will get –ude-.
• If the word is based on a noun (such as ystävä > ystävyys), it will get –ude-.
• If the word ends in –uus/yys (double vowel), you will get –ude-.

2.4.6. Words ending in -ton: replace -ton with -ttoma- + -t

Read more about words ending in -ton here.

2.4.7. Words ending in -in: replace -in with -ime- + -t

Read more about words ending in -in here.

2.4.8. Words ending in -ut: two groups

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 –e- before the –t.

The much larger group is made up of NUT-participles such as väsynyt and tottunut. For the words, you will replace the -ut/yt with -ee- before the –t.

2.4.9. Words ending in -tar

Words endin in -tar are rare, but at least tytär (daughter) is a common word. In the T-plural, these words get -ttare- in place of the basic form’s -tar.

3. Consonant Gradation in the T-Plural

I have a separate article on wordtype A.

I have a separate article on wordtype B.

Related posts:

Plural Location Cases of Longer Words Plural Partitive of Long Words Plural Location Cases – Monikon Paikallissijat Events Celebrations – Always Plural Finnish Words – Plurale Tantum