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Plural Partitive vs Plural Genitive

How can we compare the plural partitive vs plural genitive? Can one of them help you learn the other? Find out now!

1. Plural Partitive -IA → Plural Genitive -IEN

When the plural partitive’s ending is -ia/iä, the plural genitive’s ending is –ien.

Nominative Partitive Genitive Nominative Partitive Genitive
kynä kyniä kynien metsä metsiä metsien
kesä kesiä kesien leipä leipiä leipien
pöytä pöytiä pöytien ystävä ystäviä ystävien
koira koiria koirien kukka kukkia kukkien
muna munia munien loma lomia lomien
tumma tummia tummien tukka tukkia tukkien
järvi järviä järvien sieni sieniä sienien
uusi uusia uusien vuosi vuosia vuosien
sormi sormia sormien lehti lehtiä lehtien
pelaaja pelaajia pelaajien ohjelma ohjelmia ohjelmien

2. Plural Partitive -JA → Plural Genitive -JEN

When the plural partitive’s ending is -ja/jä, the plural genitive’s ending is -jen/-jen.

Nominative Partitive Genitive Nominative Nominative Genitive
sana sanoja sanojen hinta hintoja hintojen
kissa kissoja kissojen marja marjoja marjojen
kirja kirjoja kirjojen kala kaloja kalojen

This rule doesn’t work for nouns with a plural partitive ending in -eja/ejä (hotelli : hotelleja : hotellejen → hotelleiden; metalli : metalleja : metallejen → metallien).

3. Plural Partitive -ITA → Plural Genitive -IDEN / -ITTEN

When the plural partitive’s ending is -ita/-itä, the plural genitive’s ending is -iden/-itten. Of these two, –iden is more common (except in some spoken language areas), but both forms are equally “correct”.

Nominative Partitive Genitive #1 Genitive #2
huone huoneita huoneiden huoneitten
perhe perheitä perheiden perheitten
kirje kirjeitä kirjeiden kirjeitten
kone koneita koneiden koneitten
parveke parvekkeita parvekkeiden parvekkeitten
koe kokeita kokeiden kokeitten
maa maita maiden maitten
suu suita suiden suitten
vapaa vapaita vapaiden vapaitten
harmaa harmaita harmaiden harmaitten
tie teitä teiden teitten
öitä öiden öitten
opiskelija opiskelijoita opiskelijoiden opiskelijoitten
kaveri kavereita kavereiden kavereitten
rikas rikkaita rikkaiden rikkaitten
kaunis kauniita kauniiden kauniitten
radio radioita radioiden radioitten

4. Words with a Consonant Stem

Words that have a consonant stem, will have two options in the plural genitive. These words can end in a consonant in their basic form (e.g. keskus, mies, avain) or in some conjugated form (e.g. kiel-tä, nais-ta).

Which of the two genitives is the most common can be a little unpredictable. Below, the most common of the two has been bolded. My advice would be to learn the most common by heart and ignore the other one at the beginning of your plural genitive studies.

Nominative Partitive Genitive #1 Genitive #2
keskus keskuksia keskuksien keskusten
yritys yrityksiä yrityksien yritysten
vastaus vastauksia vastauksien vastausten
avain avaimia avaimien avainten
soitin soittimia soittimien soitinten
mies miehiä miehien miesten
nainen naisia naisien naisten
kieli kieliä kielien kielten
vuori vuoria vuorien vuorten
käsi käsiä käsien kätten
vesi vesiä vesien vetten

That’s it for this plural partitive vs plural genitive comparison!

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Kalevo

Moi! I have a doubt: as all we know monikon genetiivi that finish in r, l and n haave 2 genetiivimuotuoa. And specially in the case de ”Kuningatar” is ”kuningaTTarien”/ ”kuningaTarten”. Why, the first ole is strong (tt) and the second one weak? Thank you do much.

Inge (admin)

That’s a very good question with a complicated answer!

It’s due to the syllables in both those versions:

  • kuninga-tta-ri-en
  • kuninga-tar-ten

Open syllables (ie. syllables ending in a vowel, such as -tta-) get strong consonant gradation. Closed syllables (ie. syllables ending in a consonanent, such as -tar-) get weak consonant gradation.

This is complicated stuff! Thanks for asking 🙂

Cass

Oh excellent! I have been wondering this for other words for a while. Can’t remember the examples of course. 🙂

Cassandra

nvm. I can’t remember the exact example.

but is this the right way to think of syllables?
a-ja-tel-la
a-ja-tte-len

Last edited 3 years ago by Cassandra
Inge (admin)

As far as open and closed syllables go, that’s correct!

But I just realized that I actually neglected the -tt- part of the syllables… It’s more intuitive to do as I did with kuninga-tta-rien and as you did with aja-tte-len, but it’s not 100% accurate.

In fact, the -tt- is spread over two syllables, so it’s a-jat-te-len and ku-nin-gat-ta-ri-en. This does nothing to the open or close syllable that decides consonant gradation though. Even when the tt is spread over two syllables, the syllables you need to look at still open and closed in the same way.

I hope I didn’t add too much confusion now.

Cassa

No, not too much confusion! I think I get it.

This will help with pronunciation, I think, and better being able to guess what sounds right