Finnish for foreigners beginners course. Lesson 3: The numbers and the partitive
In this lesson you will learn numbers in Finnish. We will also take a look at the partitive case.
Kuinka monta? / How many?
In this lesson you will learn numbers in Finnish. We will also take a look at the partitive case. You will need it when you use numbers with nouns and adjectives.
Let’s start with the numbers from 0 to 10.
0 nolla
1 yksi
2 kaksi
3 kolme
4 neljä
5 viisi
6 kuusi
7 seitsemän
8 kahdeksan
9 yhdeksän
10 kymmenen
When forming numbers 11 to 19 just add the word -toista after the number.
11 yksitoista
12 kaksitoista
13 kolmetoista
14 neljätoista
15 viisitoista etc.
Tens are formed with the suffix -kymmentä.
20 kaksikymmentä
50 viisikymmentä
80 kahdeksankymmentä
Numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine are formed by saying the ten and then the number.
21 kaksikymmentäyksi
33 kolmekymmentäkolme
76 seitsemänkymmentäkuusi
Then we have 100, sata and 1000, tuhat . Again, just add the numbers in the right order.
104 sataneljä
118 satakahdeksantoista
189 satakahdeksankymmentäyhdeksän
1001 tuhatyksi
Hundreds and thousands in plural are expressed with the partitive case of the words -sata and -tuhat.
200 kaksisataa (notice the long vowel)
4000 neljätuhatta (notice the ending ta )
The basic rules of the partitive case
Nouns and adjectives coming after any other number than number 1 are always in the partitive case. Look at these examples:
yksi kahvi - kaksi kahvia (one coffee - two coffees).
yksi päivä - kymmenen päivää (one day - ten days).
yksi mies - kolme miestä (one man - three men).
yksi perhe - viisi perhettä (one family - five families).
The basic rules for forming the partitive case are the following:
- If the word ends with a single vowel (except for e), the ending is either a or ä. (If there are back vowels a, o or u in the word, the ending is a. With front vowels ä, ö or y and often with neutral vowels i and e, the ending is ä. This rule is called the vowel harmony). Kahvi - kahvia (coffee); päivä - päivää (day).
- If the word ends with two vowels or a consonant, the ending is either ta or tä. Museo - museota (museum); mies - miestä (man).
- If the word ends with a vowel e, the ending is tta or ttä. Tietokone - tietokonetta (computer); perhe - perhettä (family).
Now you can watch my video and hear the pronunciation. Listen carefully the difference between short and long vowels! The video is in Finnish but there are English subtitles available.