“Plurale tantum” words are words that always appear in plural. However, for many of these, their meaning is singular. You have these words in many languages, such as in English “scissors” and “pants”, but there seems to be more plurale tantum in Finnish than in English.

In this article, we will first go over the semantics (the meaning) of these words. Then, we’ll proceed to the syntax: how these words are used in sentences. We have other articles about the same topic as well!

1. Semantics of Words that are Always Plural

1.1. Entities with two mirrored parts

Plurale tantum words often are things that contain two parts that are mirrored. We could “cut” the two apart and end up with two very similar parts. The parts form a complete entity while together.

1.2. Entities with multiple parts that form a whole

Some things just naturally form a whole and appear as a whole in most situations. The whole isn’t always equally rigid, but it’s still easy to see how the thing is made up out of its parts.

1.3. Possible on their own but often as a whole

These words naturally exist in groups. While they do have a singular which you can utilize, their plural is the default of the word.

1.4. Events and Gatherings

Parties, ceremonies, events, gatherings and celebrations are often plural in Finnish. We could attribute this to the fact that many people participate in them. Or we could see them as events that originally lasted multiple days, or that have multiple phases. These are not generally plural in English, but there are other languages with a similar pattern (e.g. Russia, Estonia).

1.5. Categories of plurale tantum words

These are largely already visible in the previous chapter, but we can divide them more clearly still.

• Clothes: e.g. jeans, pants, leggings, overalls (more examples here)
• Bodyparts: e.g. sideburns, genitals, dentures, brain
• Things: e.g. stairs, pliers, tweezers, reins, covers
• Equipment: e.g. accessories, gadgetry, haberdashery
• Information: e.g. personal details, statistics, medical records
• Place names: e.g. United States, Netherlands, Shetland Islands, Maldives
• Gatherings: parties, events, ceremonies (more examples here)
• Organized forces: e.g. troops, reinforcements, United Nations
• Teams or organizations: e.g. Helsingin Sanomat

Read more about the categories of Finnish plurale tantum words here!

2. Syntax of Plurale Tantum Words

2.1. The Subject of a Regular Sentence

Usually, when the subject is in the T-plural, the verb will appear in the third person plural he-form. Plurale tantum words are often no different (there’s a but coming below the next table).

2.2. Exception: Proper Nouns

As said above, usually, when the subject is in the T-plural, the verb will appear in the third person plural he-form. However, when a Finnish plurale tantum word is a proper noun, we will use the singular hän-form. Proper nouns are things like the name of a team, a country, a book, or a company.

2.3. Complement Sentences with Plural Nouns

More interesting than above are the situations where a plurale tantum word is used as the subject in a complement sentence (predikatiivilause). The complement of a word that’s always plural will be in one of two cases: the T-plural or the plural partitive.

Generally, a complement sentence with a plural subject will have a plural partitive complement. For example, Tytöt ovat iloisia “The girls are happy” or Rakennukset ovat korkeita “The buildings are tall”.

When your subject is a plurale tantum word, however, you will generally use the T-plural for the complement as well.

2.4. Exception: Plural Entities

We will use the plural partitive for the complement with these same words when we’re talking about more than one of the entity. We can talk about weddings in general, for example, rather than just “the wedding”, as in the example above. We can also talk about a specific set of these entities, such as with bras: either it’s bras in general, or a specific pile of bras.

2.5. Numbers as Modifying of a Plurale Tantum Word

Numbers will behave differently with words that are always plural. For example, häät “wedding” will become kolmet häät “three weddings”. The number will be inflected in the T-plural, rather than having the noun inflect with the number. This is also the case for the words monet “many” and ainoat “the only”.

3. Relation Between the Singular and Plural

Some of these plurale tantum words can appear in the singular as well. Sometimes both versions mean the same. For example, kärryt and kärry can both mean “cart”. In other cases, the singular and the plural have their own meaning.

3.1. Celebrations and Events

Consider the word syntymäpäivä. In the singular, it means “birthday”. In the plural, it refers to a birthday party rather than just the day. This pattern is common for many of the celebrations and events (though not all, e.g. there is no such thing as “yksi hää”!).

3.2. Collection of Many

Sometimes, when the singular exists, the plural refers to the collection of things included in the entity.

3.3. Singular in Compound Words

Lastly, there is one situation where the singular of any plurale tantum word can be utilized: as the beginning of a compound word. For example, we will never talk about häät “wedding” in the singular, but hää- does appear in compound words such as hääjuhla “wedding party”, hääkakku “wedding cake” and häälahja “wedding present”.

Read more elsewhere

Related posts:

The Difference Between Mikä and Mitä Events Celebrations – Always Plural Finnish Words – Plurale Tantum Abstract Nouns in Complement Sentences – Predikatiivi Ainesanat – Uncountable Mass Nouns – Finnish Object and Complement