Nominative Plural in Finnish

Overview

The nominative plural is the most basic plural form in Finnish — it is the plural you see in dictionaries and the form used for plural subjects. At the A1 level, learning to form the nominative plural is your first step into the Finnish plural system. The good news is that the nominative plural is formed simply by adding -t to the nominative singular, though some stem changes may occur.

This contrasts with the more complex oblique plural forms (partitive plural, genitive plural, etc.) that involve the plural marker -i- and various stem changes. The nominative plural with -t is the simplest entry point into plural Finnish.

Understanding the nominative plural is essential for describing groups of things, making general statements, and using basic everyday vocabulary correctly.

How It Works

Basic formation: add -t

Singular	Plural	English
talo	talot	houses
auto	autot	cars
koira	koirat	dogs
kirja	kirjat	books
pöytä	pöydät	tables
tuoli	tuolit	chairs

Stem changes in the plural

Some words undergo consonant gradation or vowel changes:

Singular	Plural	Change
kukka	kukat	kk → k (gradation)
pankki	pankit	kk → k
kauppa	kaupat	pp → p
pöytä	pöydät	t → d

Words ending in -nen

Words ending in -nen change to -set in the nominative plural:

Singular	Plural	English
nainen	naiset	women
ihminen	ihmiset	people
suomalainen	suomalaiset	Finns
punainen	punaiset	red (ones)

Words ending in -s

Singular	Plural	English
mies	miehet	men
vuosi	vuodet	years
uusi	uudet	new (ones)

Predicate adjective agreement

Predicate adjectives match the subject's number:

Singular	Plural
Talo on iso.	Talot ovat isot.
Koira on kiltti.	Koirat ovat kilttejä.

Note: Predicate adjectives with plural subjects can take either nominative plural (-t) or partitive plural (-ja/-jä) depending on whether the subject is definite or indefinite.

Examples in Context

Finnish	English	Note
Talot ovat suuria.	The houses are big.	Basic plural
Koirat juoksevat pihalla.	The dogs run in the yard.	Plural subject
Naiset puhuvat suomea.	The women speak Finnish.	-nen → -set
Kirjat ovat pöydällä.	The books are on the table.	Basic plural
Uudet autot ovat kalliita.	New cars are expensive.	Adjective + noun plural
Ihmiset ovat ystävällisiä.	People are friendly.	-nen → -set
Punaiset kukat ovat kauniita.	Red flowers are beautiful.	Adjective agreement
Lapset menevät kouluun.	The children go to school.	Irregular (lapsi → lapset)
Suomalaiset juovat paljon kahvia.	Finns drink a lot of coffee.	-nen → -set
Miehet ja naiset ovat tasa-arvoisia.	Men and women are equal.	Plural forms

Common Mistakes

Not applying consonant gradation

• Wrong: kukkat (keeping strong kk)
• Right: kukat
• Why: Adding -t closes the syllable, triggering consonant gradation: kk → k.

Forgetting the -nen → -set change

• Wrong: nainent or nainenet
• Right: naiset
• Why: Words ending in -nen have a special plural stem: -nen drops and is replaced by -se- before the -t ending.

Using partitive plural when nominative is needed

• Wrong: Koiria juoksevat pihalla.
• Right: Koirat juoksevat pihalla.
• Why: The subject of a sentence uses the nominative plural (-t), not the partitive plural (-ja).

Practice Tips

1. Room inventory: Look around and name objects in plural: tuolit, kirjat, ikkunat, lamput, taulut. Practice until you can quickly add -t to any noun.
2. Gradation awareness: Take 10 nouns with consonant gradation and practice both singular and plural: kukka/kukat, kauppa/kaupat, pöytä/pöydät.
3. -nen words: Collect -nen words (nainen, ihminen, suomalainen, punainen...) and practice their plural: naiset, ihmiset, suomalaiset, punaiset.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Nominative and Partitive Cases — the basic case system