Finnish for busy people

The Genitive Plural – Monikon Genetiivi

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

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  1. The Use of the Plural Genitive Case
    1. When indicating possession (miesten autot)
    2. In front of postpositions (talojen takana)
    3. When expressing necessity (lasten täytyy)
    4. Important note
  2. The Formation of the Plural Genitive Case
    1. Words ending in –u/-y, -o/-ö
    2. Words ending in
    3. Words ending in -a
      1. Words of two syllables (kissa-words)
      2. Words of two syllables (koira-words)
    4. Words ending in -i
      1. New words ending in -i
      2. Old words ending in -i
      3. Old words ending in -si
      4. Old -li/-ni/-ri words
    5. Words ending in an -e
    6. Words ending in -nen
    7. Words ending in two vowels
    8. Words ending in diphthongs -ie, -uo, -yö
    9. Longer words ending in two different vowels
    10. Words ending in a consonant
      1. Words ending in -s
      2. Words ending in –ton/-tön
      3. Words ending in –tar/-tär
      4. Words ending in -in
      5. Words ending in -ut/-yt
    11. Advanced: genitive plural’s -in
  3. Consonant Gradation in the Plural Genitive Case

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

1.1. When indicating possession

The genitive is used to express someone possessing something. When there are multiple possessors, we use the plural genitive. 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 genitive.

Nominative Finnish English
nuo miehet noiden miesten vaimot the wives of those men
kissat kissojen lempiruoka the favorite food of cats
naapurit naapureiden apu the neighbors’ help
suomalaiset suomalaisten asenne Finns’ attitude
oppaat oppaiden koulutus the guides’ education
äidit äitien mielipiteet the opinions of mothers

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 genitive case.

Example English
[Pöytien päällä] on kukkia. There are flowers [on top of the tables].
[Näiden talojen takana] on lampi. There’s a pond [behind these houses].
Tyttö istuu [vanhempiensa välissä]. The girl sits [between her parents].
Vesi virtaa [siltojen alla]. The water streams [under the bridges].
[Kirjahyllyjen vieressä] on peili. There’s a mirror [next to the book shelves].
Käyn kävelyllä [tyttöjen kanssa]. I’m going on a walk [with the girls].

1.3. When expressing necessity

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

Finnish English
[Opiskelijoiden täytyy] käydä kaupassa. The students have to go to the store.
[Hakijoiden kannattaa] tulla ajoissa. The applicants should come on time.
[Lasten pitää] siivota huoneensa. The kids have to clean their room.
[Näiden äitien on pakko] siivota. These mothers have to clean.
[Poliisien ei pitäisi] olla täällä. The police officers shouldn’t be here.

1.4. Important note

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

Please also check out this article: “When to use the plural genitive“!


2. The Formation of the Plural Genitive Case

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

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

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

Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
talo talojen tyttö tyttöjen
katu katujen hylly hyllyjen
pallo pallojen aamu aamujen
pöllö pöllöjen helppo helppojen

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

2.2. Words ending in : replace the with -ien

Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
kynä kynien metsä metsien
isä isien kesä kesien
leipä leipien kylmä kylmien
pöytä pöytien hätä hätien

(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 genitive: 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 plural genitive!

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

Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
sana sanojen hinta hintojen
kala kalojen kissa kissojen
teema teemojen marja marjojen
kirja kirjojen liima liimojen

(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.

Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
koira koirien kukka kukkien
tukka tukkien muna munien
loma lomien oja ojien
kooma koomien tumma tummien

(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 (e.g. lääkäri, paperi) have their own rules.

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

Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
banaani banaanien äiti äitien
tiimi tiimien pankki pankkien
posti postien maali maalien
tyyli tyylien bussi bussien

(In the plural partitive, these words would end in -eja/-ejä).

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

Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
järvi järvien ovi ovien
sieni sienien kivi kivien
sormi sormien nimi nimien
lehti lehtien pilvi pilvien

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

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

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  • Everyday language: old words ending in -si will have -en added to them in the genitive plural.
  • More poetic style: they can also have -tten as an ending.

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Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
vesi vesien vetten
susi susien sutten
si sien tten
reisi reisien reitten

In the partitive singular, these words end in -tta/ttä (e.g. käsi becomes kättä, and susi becomes sutta).
In the partitive plural,  these words end in -ia/iä (e.g. käsi becomes käsiä, and susi becomes susia).

2.4.4. Oldli/-ni/-ri words: -ien or -ten

[su_list icon=”icon: asterisk” icon_color=”#aadf67″ indent=”16″]

  • Most often: can be compared to the partitive SINGULAR (e.g. pieni : pientä : pienten; kieli : kieltä : kielten).
  • Also fairly common: you can add -en to the basic form of the word (pieni : pienien; kieli : kielien).

[/su_list]

Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
pieni pienten pienien
meri merten merien
sieni sienten sienien
hiiri hiirten hiirien
kieli kielten kielien

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

The genitive 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 genitive plural of these words in strong.

Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
huone huoneiden huoneitten
perhe perheiden perheitten
parveke parvekkeiden parvekkeitten
koe kokeiden kokeitten

(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 genitive (iloisien suomalaisien naisien), but using -sten is much more popular (iloisten suomalaisten naisten).

Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
nainen naisten hevonen hevosten
suomalainen suomalaisten eteinen eteisten
iloinen iloisten ihminen ihmisten

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”.

Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
maa maiden maitten
suu suiden suitten
jää iden itten
harmaa harmaiden harmaitten
vapaa vapaiden vapaitten

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”.

Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
tie teiden teitten
v vöiden vöitten
öiden öitten
t töiden töitten

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

2.9. Longer words ending in two different vowels -eo, -uo, -yö:

This rule applies to words of multiple syllables. For these, you just add -iden or -itten to the end of the word without making any changes to the word itself.

Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
televisio televisioiden televisioitten
keitt keittiöiden keittiöitten
museo museoiden museoitten
video videoiden videoitten

2.10. Words ending in a consonant

2.10.1 Words ending in -s

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

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

Words with -kse- in the singular genitive can have a plural genitive that’s based on its singular genitive (e.g. keskuksen → keskuksien), or based on its basic form (e.g. keskus → keskusten). I’ve provided the singular form (SG) in the table below for reference when you look at the plural form (PL).

# Nominative SG genitive PL genitive #1 PL genitive #2
1 keskus keskuksen keskuksien keskusten
1 ostos ostoksen ostoksien ostosten
1 kasvis kasviksen kasviksien kasvisten
1 fiilis fiiliksen fiiliksien fiilisten
1 ananas ananaksen ananaksien ananasten

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

# Nominative SG genitive PL genitive #1 PL genitive #1
2 kallis kalliin kalliiden kalliitten
2 valmis valmiin valmiiden valmiitten
2 hammas hampaan hampaiden hampaitten
2 saapas saappaan saappaiden saappaitten

2.10.2 Words ending in -ton/-tön

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

Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
työtön työttömien koditon kodittomien
rasvaton rasvattomien järjetön järjettömien

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

2.10.3 Words ending in -tar/-tär

Words ending in tar/-tär will get -ien added to their stem, which ends in -ttare- (e.g. ystävättären, ystävättärellä, ystävättärelle)Note that we use the strong form of the word and remove the final -e. It’s also possible to have -ten as the plural genitive ending for these words (e.g. ystävätärten), in which case we use the weak form.

Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
ystävätär ystävättärien ystävätärten
kuningatar kuningattarien kuningatarten
valtiatar valtiattarien valtiatarten
herttuatar herttuattarien herttuatarten

2.10.4 Words ending in -in

Words ending in -in can have two pretty different plural genitive 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.

Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
puhelin puhelimien puhelinten
puhallin puhaltimien puhallinten
kahvinkeitin kahvinkeittimien kahvinkeitinten
kiharrin kihartimien kiharrinten
avain avaimien avainten

2.10.5. Words ending in -ut/-yt

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 genitive, 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 genitive. 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.

Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
olut oluiden oluitten
kevyt kevyiden kevyitten
lyhyt lyhyiden lyhyitten
väsynyt väsyneiden väsyneitten
tottunut tottuneiden tottuneitten
kuollut kuolleiden kuolleitten

2.11. Advanced: genitive plural’s -in

There is one more option for the ending of the plural genitive: -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 (e.g. vanhempainilta, vanhainkoti, pyhäinpäivä). When not part of a compound word, it can sound old-fashioned.

Nominative Genitive #1 Genitive #2
opiskelija opiskelijain opiskelijoiden
köyhä köyhäin köyhien
pyhä pyhäin pyhien
pappi pappein pappien
vanhempi vanhempain vanhempien
vanki vankein vankien
kaikki kaikkein kaikkien
vanha vanhain vanhojen

3. Consonant Gradation in the Plural Genitive

The genitive 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.

Wordtype A
Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
tyttö tyttöjen pankki pankkien
puku pukujen pöytä pöytien
hattu hattujen kauppa kauppojen
silta siltojen kampa kampojen

I have a separate article on wordtype A.

Wordtype B
Nominative Genitive Nominative Genitive
savuke savukkeiden tavoite tavoitteiden
soitin soittimien opas oppaiden
rakas rakkaiden puhallin puhaltimien
keitin keittimien hammas hampaiden

I have a separate article on wordtype B.

Small note: the plural genitive of long words ending in -kka/kkä/kko/kkö can be weak.


That concludes the article on the plural genitive case!

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

31 Comments

  • I was going to comment the same thing because, during a Finnish class by zoom, I searched for “plural genitive” and found nothing, then had to go through the menu from scratch. (Native English US) But I get sticking to your guns.

  • From this page:Consonant Gradation in the Plural GenitiveThe genitive plural will always be strong, both for wordtype A and wordtype B.

    From: https://staging.uusikielemme.fi/finnish-grammar/finnish-cases/grammatical-cases/the-plural-genitive-of-long-words

    Are “Long Words Ending in -KKA or -KKO” using -oiden/-oitten forms an exception using weak forms? Are there other exceptions?

    Thanks!

  • If Pöytien päällä on kukkia=There are flowers on top of the tables.
    then the flowers are on top of the table=kukat ovat pöydän päällä
    the flowers are on top of the tables= kukat ovat pöytien päällä. OR it does not work like that.

    • Because I see the first sentence as a existential sentence and the 2nd and 3rd one as a regular sentence.

      • Yep, you’re correct! Starting with the postposition creates an existential sentence.

        It all depends what the new information is in the context. In Finnish, word order can tell us what the new information is and what is already known. In English, you use “a” and “the” for this.

        “Pöydän päällä on kukkia.” There are flowers on the table.
        “Pöytien päällä on kukkia.” There are flowers on the tables.

        If we already knew that there are tables, but we learn now that there are flowers on these tables, we put kukkia at the end of the system: the tables have flowers. This answers the question “Mitä pöytien päällä on?

        “Kukat ovat pöydän päällä.” The flowers are on the table.
        “Kukat ovat pöytien päällä.” The flowers are on the tables.

        If we already knew there are flowers, but we learn now that they are on the tables, we put pöytien päällä at the end of the sences: the flowers are on tables. This answers the question “Missä kukat ovat?

  • Moi! Is it possible that there is a mistake in the point 2.4.1. New words ending in -i: add -en? There is said that the plural partitive of those kind of words is ia / iä and should be eja / ejä (posteja, äitejä, banaaneja, busseja, etc). Thanks!

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