This article describes the usage and the formation of the genetive plural case, aka monikon genetiivi.

1. Use of the Genetive Plural (minkä, keiden)

1.1. When indicating possession

The genetive is used to express someone possessing something. When there are multiple possessors, we use the plural genetive. When a group of words all belong together (say: a pronoun, an adjective and a noun), all three of them will be put in the genetive.

1.2. In front of postpositions

Postpositions in Finnish are often used to indicate location in relation to another object. Postpositions generally require their complement to be inflected in the genetive case.

1.3. When expressing necessity

In Finnish you will need to use the genetive with verbs expressing necessity (täytyy, pitää, kannattaa).

1.4. Important note

The singular genetive case also functions as the marker for the total object (eg. Syön omenan; Luen kirjan). The plural genetive is NOT used in the same function. You will use the plural nominative or partitive for plural objects.

2. The Formation of the Plural Genetive Case

The singular genetive’s marker -n also appears in the plural genetive. In addition to that -n, the plural genetive will also have the plural marker’s -i-. However, there are many possible options for how the genetive plural can look. In addition, different language sources will present them in a different way. This means that one source might list the plural genetive variants as: -jen, -ien, -eiden, -eiten and -sten. Another source might list them as -en, -den, -ten, -tten.

One thing that will make the genetive plural a little easier to learn is having studied the plural partitive already. Fairly often, the plural partitive’s and the plural genetive’s markers will have a similar look. Not included here is the plural genetive of long words.

2.1. Words ending in -u/-y, -o/-ö: add -jen

(In the plural partitive, these words would have -ja).

2.2. Words ending in -ä: replace the -ä with -ien

(In the plural partitive, these words would have -ia/-iä).

2.3. Words ending in -a

The same rules for grouping words ending in -a applies to both the plural partitive and the plural genetive: I call the two groups of words ending in -a by the names “kissa-words” and “koira-words”. These two words are easy to remember and each belongs to a different group of words ending in -a. If you can remember “kissa – kissojen” and “koira – koirien” and apply that rule to other, similar words, you’re on your way to mastering the partitive plural!

2.3.1. Words of two syllables (kissa-words): -ojen

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 genetive, you will replace the final -a with -ojen.

(In the plural partitive, these words would end in -oja).

2.3.2. Words of two syllables (koira-words): -ien

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 -ien.

(In the plural partitive, these words would end in -ia).

2.4. Words ending in -i

Words ending in -i are once again divided into several groups. For most words, the -i will turn into -ien. However, there is often more than one option, of which one can be used in more poetic settings. The following rules only applies to short words. Long words (eg. lääkäri, paperi) have their own rules.

2.4.1. New words ending in -i: add -en

(In the plural partitive, these words would end in -ia/-iä).

2.4.2. Old words ending in -i: add -en

2.4.3. Old words ending in -si: add -en / -tten

2.4.4. Old –li/-ni/-ri words: -ien or -ten

2.5. Words ending in -e: add -iden or -itten

The genetive plural of words ending in -e have two possibilities: -iden or -itten. Of these, -iden is the most popular, though both are usually considered equally “correct”. The genetive plural of these words in strong.

(In the plural partitive, these words would end in -ita/-itä).

2.6. Words ending in -nen: replace the -nen with -sten

For words ending in -nen, there is also the possibility of using -sien for the plural genetive (iloisien suomalaisien naisien), but using -sten is much more popular (iloisten suomalaisten naisten).

2.7. Words ending in two vowels: -iden/-itten

These words have two possibilities: -iden or -itten. Of these, -iden is the most popular, though both are usually considered equally ”correct”.

2.8. Words ending in diphthongs -ie, -uo, -yö: -iden/-itten

These words have two possibilities: -iden or -itten. Of these, -iden is the most popular, though both are usually considered equally ”correct”.

(In the plural partitive, these words would end in -ita/-itä).

2.9. Words ending in a consonant

2.9.1 Words ending in -s

Please look at this overview of words ending in -s: here.

For the plural genetive, you will have two different types of inflection, which you can identify based on their singular genetive form.

Words with -kse- in the singular genetive can have a plural genetive that’s based on its singular genetive (eg. keskuksen → keskuksien), or based on its basic form (eg. keskus → keskusten).

Words with a long vowel in the singular genetive can have either -iiden or -iitten in the plural genetive.

2.9.2 Words ending in -ton/-tön

Words ending in -ton/-tön will get -ien added to their stem, which ends in -ttoma- (eg. rahattoman, rahattomassa, rahattomalle). Note that we use the strong form of the word. It’s also possible to have -ten as the plural genetive ending for these words (eg. työtönten), but this is very rare.

(In the plural partitive, these words end in -ia/-iä).

2.9.3 Words ending in -in

Words ending in -in can have two pretty different plural genetive forms: they can end in -ien or in -ten. This is tricky becaue the -ien ending will be added to the strong stem, while the -ten ending gets added to the weak stem. Both forms are used.

2.9.4. Words ending in -ut

Words ending in -ut can belong to two groups. The smaller of the two are words such as olut, kevyt and ohut. In the plural genetive, these words will end in -uiden and -uitten (both endings are allowed).

The much larger group are NUT-participles, such as väsynyt, kuollut, mennyt and juossut. These words will have –eiden or –eitten in the plural genetive. As you can see, the ending of both wordtypes ending in -ut is -iden or -itten, but the vowel right before the plural -i- is different.

2.10. Advanced: genetive plural’s -in

There is one more option for the ending of the plural genetive: -in. This is only possible with some words: words ending in an -a (in the singular) or in an -e (in the plural).

Usually this form appears in compound words as the first part (eg. vanhempainilta, vanhainkoti, pyhäinpäivä). When not part of a compound word, it can sound old-fashioned.

Consonant Gradation in the Plural Genetive

The genetive plural will always be strong, both for wordtype A and wordtype B. That’s different than the partitive singular, where wordtype A words functioned with the weak grade, and wordtype B with the strong grade.

I have a separate article on wordtype A.

I have a separate article on wordtype B.

That concludes the article on the plural genetive case!

If you want a chance to compare the genetive plural to the partitive plural, you can do so! There is also our page about the plural genetive of long words.