Both when studying the object and the complement (predikatiivi), you will run into the concept of mass nouns (ainesanat).

1. What is a mass noun?

Some nouns are countable, while others can’t be counted. An example of an uncountable mass noun is ketsuppi. While you can count bottles (pullo), you can’t count the ketchup itself. You can of course measure it in liters, but there is no such thing as one ketchup, two ketchups.

Another way to think of it is through the idea of dividability. A mass noun is something that can be divided into multiple parts, yet still remains “the same”. If I cut a piece of fabric in two, I end up with two pieces of fabric. This makes fabric (kangas) a mass noun. In contrast, cutting a dress in two doesn’t give me two dresses.

Likewise, if I combine two glasses of water into a cup, the combination is still water; not “two waters”. In contrast, if I put two pens in a cup, I do end up with two pens.

Tests for mass nouns in English:

• Mass nouns are quantified by an amount rather than a number (2 liters of water vs. 2 pens).
• They have only one form (singular, no “milks”).
• They cannot have “a”, “an”, or “one” before them as modifiers (“one milk”).

2. Why are mass nouns important in Finnish?

This is important in Finnish, because we will use the partitive case with mass nouns. You will see this in both object and complement sentences.

2.1. Mass nouns as the object of a sentence

When a mass noun like “coffee” is the object of a sentence, you will use the partitive case for it. This is because you’re using an undefined amount of it (#1). If you want to define the amount, you will use the container (e.g. a cup, glass) as the object of the sentence. This container will appear in the genitive case because you use the whole container (#2).

2.2. Mass nouns as the subject of a complement sentence

In sentences where the subject (e.g. milk) is a mass noun, you will put the complement (e.g. cold) in the partitive case (#1). In this situation it doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about “the milk” or “milk in general”. When the subject is countable (e.g. a milk carton), your complement will appear in the basic form (#2).

3. Types of Mass Nouns

Please note that the example sentences contain the default form used for each word. While this is the partitive case for all of these, there are situations where you could also use a different case. As a learner of Finnish, it’s often enough to be able to produce sentences similar to the examples. However, if you want a full view of what is possible, here’s a link to another article that contains more nuances. I advise against looking at the article until you are comfortable with the default case sentences.

3.1. Liquids as mass nouns

The most obvious group of mass nouns are of course the various liquids that exist. Some of these are very runny (e.g. maito “milk”), while others are less so (e.g. jogurtti “yoghurt”). In most situations, you will use the partitive form of these nouns in object sentences.

Please note that the example sentences contain the default form used for each word. While this is the partitive case for all of these, there are situations where you could also use a different case.

3.2. Other foods as mass nouns

Many mass nouns are liquid foods, but there are also plenty of other foods that fall under the category. What matters when you’re considering if a noun is a mass noun is that – if you divide it in pieces – each piece is still whatever the mass noun is. Puuro “porrige” is still porridge when you take a spoonful of the stuff.

3.3. Substance Nouns

The following nouns refer to a substance. These are another interesting group because they don’t fit into the general pattern of countable versus uncountable nouns.

Things like dust, blood and sweat are definitely mass nouns. However, you’re generally wiping away the sweat, not just some sweat. This makes “the sweat” a total object; and object sentences require the genitive case.

Many of these substances are not the type of things you generally use with normal object verbs such as ostaa “to buy”, avata “to open”, ottaa “to take” or tarvita “to need”. If they were, we would theoretically use the partitive case: Ostan limaa “I buy mucus”, which would follow the general rule. Where possible, I have given an example of the partitive.

3.4. Product Nouns

The following is a special group of words that tend to diverge from the main rule, but for understandable reasons. All of these words are uncountable mass nouns. As such, you will say “I take medication, I buy perfume and I apply nail polish” using the partitive case for the object.

However, when describing what these substances are like, we typically use the basic form for the complement; not the partitive. You’re more likely to say that the perfume you bought was expensive than that perfume in general is expensive. However, while this seems logical, it makes these words different from – for example – coffee. For coffee, you will use the partitive case no matter if it’s a specific coffee or not.

Note how suuvesi “mouth water” does have a partitive complement: Suuvesi on karvasta. This difference seems to be due to the fact that you take larger amounts of mouth water than you would of perfume. Perhaps this makes it more like “coffee”?

3.5. Materials

Another group of mass nouns are materials: e.g. wood, plastic, aluminum. For these words, I’m not offering an object sentence like in the previous sections. Situations where you’ll for example buy raw metal, silicon or plastic are rare. Much more interesting are the complement sentences.

In Finnish, you can make two types of complement sentences with materials. Below, you will find an example of both types of complement sentences for each noun.

• Firstly, you can describe what the material is like (e.g. “paper is thick” or “gold is soft”). In these sentences, the material will be the subject of your complement sentence. The adjective describing it will be in its partitive form.
• Secondly, you can describe that something is made out of the material. In these cases, the subject will be a concrete noun, while the complement is the material in its partitive form. This is for many learners of Finnish the more difficult, because English does not have a similar sentence construction. For example, the sentence tuoli on muovia will require you to use the words “is made of” in English.

Note how the first words in this list can also be used as regular nouns (glass vs. a glass). The examples provided are sentences about the material.

4. Word choice is important

Sometimes there are several concrete, countable nouns that you can use in addition to the mass noun. Depending on the situation, you might want to diverge from calling all food ruokaa and use a different noun instead. Especially as your Finnish improves, it’s important to branch out and utilise a more varied vocabulary.

5. Part or Whole – Don’t overuse it!

There are a few nouns that can be used both as concrete nouns and as mass nouns. I eat some cake (mass noun), but I buy the cake (countable noun). Sausage and bread can also be eaten both as a whole and in part.

The tricky thing for you as a language learner is to know which nouns can be used like the words above and which ones can’t. For example, as said before, chocolate will be used with the partitive case.

A flexible mind could consider it both as a mass noun and a countable noun. However, this is generally not the case in Finnish: chocolate will not be used as a countable noun like the words in the table below. At least not normally. We will use suklaalevy or another similar countable noun in that case.

6. Not Mass Nouns in Finnish!

Last but not least, not all words that are mass nouns in English are automatically mass nouns in Finnish. For most of these, you will simply use a plural term.

For example, when English says “I will buy furniture”, the word furniture is a mass noun. In Finnish, the same phrase will generally be “Ostan huonekaluja” (I buy pieces of furniture). The word kalusto is a singular noun which you could see as the Finnish equivalent of “furniture”. However, the word kalusto doesn’t refer to any single piece of furniture, it’s always the collection.

There are also nouns that are plural in both Finnish and English, but which are from a linguistic point of view not comparable. For example, sää “weather” could be seen as a mass noun, but it’s in fact not, as you can see from the example complement sentence.

Please also check out this!

The object and complement of mass nouns have more complications than this article shows. Learn more! Complications with Finnish Mass Nouns – Object and Complement

Read more elsewhere

This article doesn’t contain abstract nouns, which are the other important type of words that you need in order to make correct object and complement sentences. You can read more about abstract nouns in object sentences here.

Related posts:

Complications with Finnish Mass Nouns – Object and Complement The Difference Between Mikä and Mitä Mass Nouns as Objects – Food and the Partitive Duolingo: Introduction of the partitive case