On this page, you can find lists of the different types of words ending in E. Included are words that inflect like hame (hameen, hametta, hameita), nalle (nallen, nallea, nalleja) and filee (fileen, fileetä, fileitä).

1. Subtypes of words ending in a single E

There are two large distinct groups of words ending in a single E as well as a small group of words ending in a double -ee.

The biggest group consists of words like that inflect like hame : hametta : hameen : hameita). This group has what is sometimes called “reversed consonant gradation” (lääke : lääkettä : lääkkeen : lääkkeitä). This is an inaccurate term which might nevertheless help you when you learn about wordtype B consonant gradation.

Recent loanwords (e.g. deadline : deadlinea : deadlinen : deadlineja), personal names (e.g. Kalle : Kallea : Kallen : Kalleja), some colloquial words (e.g. bisse : bisseä : bissen : bissejä) and some old Finnish words (kolme : kolmea : kolmen : kolmeja) form the second group.

These words belong to different groups because of their history. In olden days Finnish, the biggest group of words ending in E used to have a consonant behind the -e still (primarily a -k or an -h). For example, in Proto-Finnic herne “pea” was very likely “herneh“. Words such as deadline didn’t exist in these days, so they have never had this Proto-Finnic final vocal.

Many more linguistically inclined learners of Finnish find this immensely interesting. I suggest you read this short description on Wiktionary as a start as well as my own article on boundary gemination.

The third group of words ending in E is negligible. It contains words where the basic form ends in -ee. This isn’t an independent group as such, because it usually is combined with other words ending in two of the same vowel like miljöö and shampoo.

2. Inflection table of the words hame and lääke

This wordtype is generally referred to as words that inflect like hame, but I feel it’s necessary to also introduce the word lääke, as it has consonant gradation. The consonant gradation of words like hame is in Finnish courses usually referred to as “sanatyyppi B” ie. “wordtype B”. You can read more about wordtype B consonant gradation here.

3. List of words like hame

This first group contains words without consonant gradation. I have bolded the words which are perhaps the most useful early on in your studies.

Included in the table below are the singular partitive, genitive, inessive (marked as “missä“) and illative (marked as “mihin“) cases, as well as the plural partitive (marked as “PP” to save space).

Usually, there is a reason why these words don’t undergo consonant gradation. For example, the word toive doesn’t have v – p consonant gradation because it is derived from the verb toivoa, which also doesn’t have consonant gradation.

4. List of words like lääke

The group below contains words with consonant gradation. I have bolded the words which are perhaps the most useful early on in your studies.

The type of consonant gradation in these words is often referred to as “wordtype B consonant gradation” or “reverse consonant gradation”. For this wordtype, the basic form (singular nominative case – e.g. lääke) and the singular partitive form (lääkettä) will have the weak consonant and all the other cases will have the corresponding strong consonant (e.g. lääkkeessä, lääkkeestä, lääkkeeseen, lääkkeellä, lääkkeitä, lääkkeisiin). You can read more about wordtype B consonant gradation here.

Included in the table below are the singular partitive, genitive, inessive (marked as “missä“) and illative (marked as “mihin“) cases, as well as the plural partitive (marked as “PP” to save space).

The following table contains words that are usually only used in their plural forms. I’m giving you the singular forms as well, but beware that you will generally need the plural forms. As such, I’m giving you the plural nominative (marked as T-plural), partitive, genitive, inessive (marked as “missä“) and illative (marked as “mihin“) forms rather than any of the singular forms.

5. Inflection table of the word nalle

In contrast with the previous section, words like nalle will not get a second -e in most of the cases like e.g. hame gets. The singular and plural partitive cases are also decidedly different: compare, for example “hame, hametta, hameita” and “nalle, nallea, nalleja“.

6. Lists of words like nalle

6.1. Subgroup 1: recent straight loanwords

In recent Finnish, loanwords get sometimes adopted into Finnish exactly as they appear in the language they were borrowed from. Rather than coming up with a Finnish word for the dog breed called “beagle”, Finns have chosen to adopt the words as-is. This is the case for a good handful of other words as well, many of which have to do with food (e.g. tagliatelle, bouillabaisse, guacamole and sake).

In the table below, I have only included words that don’t have a clearly more finnish alternative. This means I have left out, for example, the words drone (which can also be called “drooni“), crêpe (which can also be called “kreppi“), “byte” (which can also be called “tavu“), ensemble (which can also be called “yhtye“).

Included in the table below are the singular partitive, genitive, inessive (marked as “missä“) and illative (marked as “mihin“) cases, as well as the plural partitive (marked as “PP” to save space). As always, there are words here where the partitive plural just isn’t used (e.g. house “house music” is a strange word to put in the plural).

* Regarding beagle, genre and freestyle: these words have two possible endings for all cases ending in an -a: they can get either -a or -ä.

6.2. Subgroup 2: Old words

Included in the table below are the singular partitive, genitive, inessive (marked as “missä“) and illative (marked as “mihin“) cases, as well as the plural partitive (marked as “PP” to save space).

Regarding nalle and pelle: these are “old words” in the sense that they’ve been borrowed into the Finnish language a long time ago. While these words aren’t immediately recognisable as straight loanwords, they’ve been borrowed straight from (ancient) Swedish. As such, they could also be added to the previous table.

6.3. Subgroup 3: Informal, colloquial or slang words ending in E

Included in the table below are the singular partitive, genitive, inessive (marked as “missä“) and illative (marked as “mihin“) cases, as well as the plural partitive (marked as “PP” to save space). Between brackets, I have included information about the style of word this is. Informal words are words that are widely used even in media sources, colloquial words are typical for spoken Finnish, and slang words are typical for dialectical Finnish.

6.4. Subgroup 4: Personal names

Included in the table below are:

1. The singular nominative: used e.g. in the sentence “Tämä on Aarne” (This is Aarne).
2. The singular partitive: used e.g. in the sentence “En tunne Aarnea” (I don’t know Aarne).
3. The singular genitive: used e.g. in the sentence “Aarnen sukunimi on Lahti” (Aarne’s surname is Lahti).
4. The singular adessive (marked as “kenellä“): used e.g. in the sentence “Aarnella on sisko” (Aarne has a sister).
5. The singular illative (marked as “keneen“): used e.g. in the sentence “Tutustuin eilen Aarneen” (I got to know Aarne yesterday).

I have refrained from providing a plural form because they are extremely rarely used.

7. Inflection table of the word filee

Words like filee don’t inflect in a way that is limited to words ending in -ee only. This wordtype technically also includes words like shampoo and miljöö, ie. words of more than one syllable that end in a long vowel.

6. Lists of words like filee

Included in the table below are the singular partitive, genitive, inessive (marked as “missä“) and illative (marked as “mihin“) cases, as well as the plural partitive (marked as “PP” to save space). As you can see, the illative case can have two endings: -hen or -seen.

Note: Wikisanakirja offers a more complete list

Due to the massive number of words ending in E, I’ve left quite a few words out of this list. I haven’t done so very consistently unfortunately: the choice has been based on my mood at the time of working on this article. In addition, my article focuses on base words that belong to these types, which means there are no compound words included. You can find more complete lists, which also includes compound words, on Wiktionary:

I’m working on several other articles related to words ending in E, where my goal is to show how these words have been derived. Only some words ending in E are original stand-alone words. Instead, many will have been derived from another word. For example, toive and liite come from the verbs toivoa and liittää respectively. Likewise, the words savuke and ranneke have been derived from the nouns savu and ranne.

Related posts:

Wordtype A Consonant Gradation Wordtype B Consonant Gradation Consonant gradation LKI-LJE RKI-RJE The Finnish Verbtypes