The majority of the cases of the Finnish noun have, at any rate in
their origin, a local meaning. Of these local cases two obvious groups
are found, one called the interior local cases (inessive, elative,
and illative), the other the exterior cases (the adessive, ablative,
and allative). Another group is formed by the essive, partitive, and
translative, which, however, do not hang together so closely as the cases
above cited, inasmuch as the primary local meaning has in all of them
been obscured by metaphorical uses. In all these groups the first member
(inessive, adessive, essive) denotes originally rest in a position; the
second (elative, ablative, partitive) motion from; the third (illative,
allative, translative) motion to. From the original local meaning, all
the cases, except the allative, come to indicate time. It may be roughly
said that the first member denotes present time, the second past time,
and the third future time. They are also used in a metaphorical sense,
in which case the first members of the groups denote the state in which
anything is, the second the state from which anything passes, and the
third the state into which anything passes. In the first and second
groups there is a close correspondence in the metaphorical use of the
various members of the group: that is to say, if one member can be used
metaphorically to express existence in a state, the others can be used to
express a transition from or to it. Most of the cases have, however, in
addition to these common uses, others which are peculiar to themselves
and are not shared by the other members of the group.
The usage of the first and second group also shows many coincidences.
It is generally said that the first group denotes local position with
regard to the interior, and the second with regard to the exterior of the
object. In the present state of the language, however, the distinction in
this form is not very clearly observed, as will be seen by the examples
given. The second group has a tendency to denote persons rather than
things, whereas the first is used more of inanimate objects. The third
group is mainly used in metaphorical senses. It is noticeable that there
are many coincidences between the uses of the partitive and the elative.
Most of the other cases call for little comment. The instructive is used
mostly adverbially, but plays a considerable part in the construction of
sentences, and is likely to be troublesome to a beginner on account of
its resemblance to the genitive in form. The prolative is rarely used.
The comitative and abessive express respectively the presence and absence
of an object. The former is not much used, but the peculiarities of the
Finnish construction have caused the latter to in some ways take the
place of a negative.
As has already been stated in the Accidence, it would appear that in
some of the cases two forms have been merged in one. Thus it appears
that the adessive represents (1) a local case, (2) an instrumental. So,
too, the genitive represents (1) a case denoting the relation existing
between objects, (2) a dative. The nominative is also used (1) as a real
nominative, (2) as an accusative, having perhaps lost the termination in
this latter case.
=To understand Finnish syntax it is of the greatest importance to
remember that there is no real distinction between nouns, adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions, infinitives, and participles. In fact, all the
words of a sentence, except the forms of a finite verb (and a few
particles which have become petrified) are nouns, and as such are
susceptible of declension, so that the significance of the cases has an
importance extending over almost the entire grammar.=
_Nominative._
Most of the uses of the nominative have already been indicated.
I. It is employed as the subject of a sentence if the subject is total.
The subject of a transitive verb is always considered as total (_vide_
p. 122). =Ihmiset kuolevat=, _men are mortal_. =Seppä myi hevosen=, _the
smith sold the horse_. =Mitä sijat maksavat?= _what do the places cost?_
II. It also is used in the predicate, under the conditions mentioned,
page 123. =Silta on leveä=, _the bridge is wide_. =Ystäväni tytär on
seitsemän vuotias=, _my friend’s daughter is seven years old_.
III. It is used as the direct object after an imperative, or an
infinitive depending on an imperative (_vide_ p. 128). =Lyökämme käsi
kätehen= (Kal. i. 21). =Päästä piika pintehestä= (Kal. i. 173). =Kun
solmit ystäwyyttä, tee aina umpisolmu=, _when you tie the knot of
friendship, make it hard to untie_. =Tuokaa minulle kahvi=, _give me the
coffee_. =Pankaa tämä kirje postiin=, _post this letter_.
IV. When the passive form of the verb is used, the subject (or more
properly object) is put in the nominative, if it is total. =Hän saatetaan
kotia=, _he is conducted home_ (_vide_ p. 182).
V. The nominative is used as the vocative. =Oi ukko ylijumala!= =Weli
kulta, weikkoseni, kaunis kasvinkumppalini!=
VI. The nominative absolute is frequently used. Kal. xvi. 192-3. =Tuonen
hattu hartioilla, Manan kintahat käessä=, _the hat of death on thy head,
and the gloves of death on thy hands_. =Ei vahinko tule kello kaulassa=,
_misfortune does not come with a bell round his neck_. =Harvoin on se
mies piippu poissa suusta=, _this man is rarely without a pipe in his
mouth_. =Hän makaa ulkona pää paljaana=, _he sleeps out of doors with his
head bare_.
_The Partitive Case._
The original meaning of this case seems to have been motion from a place,
and traces of this signification are found in the forms =kotoa=, =ulkoa=,
=kaukaa=, =takaa=, =tyköä=, and =luota=. =Tulla ulkoa=, _to come from
out of doors_; =nähdä kaukaa=, _to see from far_. The partitive is also
apparently used locally in such expressions as =tulkaa tätä tietä=,
_come this way_; =minä käyn tietä=, _I go by the road_; =he kulkivat
matkaansa=, _they went on their way_. Perhaps, however, these might be
explained by supposing that the intransitive verbs =tulla=, =käydä=, etc.
take a cognate object. The use of the partitive of the participle passive
(p. 198) to denote ‘after’ is noticeable.
Hence the case passes not unnaturally to mean what is taken from, or
forms part of a thing.
I. A substantive preceded by words which express a quantity or measure is
put in the partitive. =Joukko ihmisiä=, _a crowd of men;_ =naula lihaa=,
_a pound of meat_; =paljo rahaa=, _much money_; =vähä voita=, _a little
butter_.
Similarly a cardinal number, if it is the subject of a sentence, is
followed by the partitive sing. of the word which it qualifies. =Kolme
poikaa=, _three boys_; =seitsemän veljeä=, _seven brothers_. In the same
way we have, =kaksi kymmentä=, _two tens_ or _twenty_. But if the word
qualified by the numeral would not be in the nominative in ordinary
European languages, the two agree in case (_vide_ p. 172).
II. The word expressing quantity is omitted and the partitive stands
alone as the subject of the sentence. This construction can often, though
not always, be rendered by the word ‘some’ in English, or by ‘de’ with
the article in French. =Leipää on pöydällä=, _there is some bread on
the table_ (_il y a du pain sur la table_). It is to be noticed that in
this construction the verb of which the partitive is the subject must be
intransitive, and is always in the singular, though the subject should be
in the plural. =Onko teillä vaatteita?= _have you any clothes?_
The subject of a negative sentence is put in the partitive, in cases
where we should say in English,—‘There is not’ or ‘there is no.’ =Ei ole
täällä ihmisiä=, _there are no men here_. In such a sentence as =en ole
merilohia, syvän aallon ahvenia= (Kal. v. 122), _I am not a salmon_, the
partitive must be explained as indicating a class, _I am not one of the
salmons_. In ordinary Finnish the partitive is only used in this way
with determining adjectives. Thus one says, =En ole vaimo=, _I am not a
woman_; but =En ole niitä vaimoja jotka unhottavat miehensä=, _I am not
one of the women who forget their husbands_.
III. The object is put in the partitive whenever it is not total (_vide_
rules given above, p. 127). =Juoda kahvia=, _to drink some coffee_;
=poika lukee kirjaa=, _the boy is reading the book_. The object of a
negative verb is always regarded as partial. =Poika ei antanut kirjaa=,
_the boy did not give the book_. =Hevonen ei jaksanut vetää kuormaa=,
_the horse could not carry the load_.
V. As stated in the rules given p. 123, the complement of a sentence is
put in the partitive when it expresses a whole of which the subject is
a part. The partitive is particularly used to express the substance of
which a thing is made. =Sormus on kultaa=, _the ring is gold_. =Kieli on
lihaa ja hampaat ovat luuta=, _the tongue is flesh, and the teeth are
bone_.
VI. In a sentence expressing comparison the word =kuin= (_than_) can
be omitted, and the word which follows the comparative be put in the
partitive. =Kuu on pienempi kuin aurinko=, _or_ =kuu on pienempi
aurinkoa=, _the moon is smaller than the sun_. =Pietari on suurempi
Helsinkiä=, _St. Petersburg is larger than Helsingfors_. =Eikö Abanan ja
Pharpharan wirrat Damaskussa ole kaikkia Israelin vesiä paremmat?= _Are
not Abana and Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of
Israel?_
VII. Adjectives expressing height or size require the partitive. =Kirkon
torni on kaksi sataa jalkaa korkea=, _the church tower is 200 feet high_.
=Joki on kaksikymmentä jalkaa syvä=, _the river is 200 feet deep_. =Silta
on puolta virstaa pitkä=, _the bridge is half a verst long_.
VIII. The partitive is used in salutations, exclamations, etc., where
it is to be explained by the omission of some word. =Hyvää iltaa=,
=hyvää huomenta= _(I wish you) good morning_; =kiitoksia=, _thanks_;
=terveisiä=, _my compliments_; =mahdotonta!= _impossible!_ =kauheaa=,
_horrible!_ So too in such expressions as =voi päiviäni=.
_Accusative._
I. The direct object of a finite active verb, if not in the imperative,
is put in the accusative, when the action of the verb is regarded as
total (_vide_ p. 126). =Isä ostaa kirjan pojalle=, _the father buys the
book for the boy_. =Kauppamies saa rahat=, _the merchant receives the
money_.
II. The accusative is also used to denote duration of time. =Viivyn
päivän=, =viikon=, =muutamat viikkokaudet=. =Itki illat=, =itki aamut=,
=yöhyet ennemmin itki=, Kal. v. 7, 8. It is also used in answer to the
question, how many times, or which time. =Minä olen täällä ensimäisen
kerran=, _I am here for the first time_. =Mina olen ollut Helsingissä
muutamat (useat, monet) kerrat=, _I have been many times at Helsingfors_.
But expressions with =joka=, such as =joka kerta=, =joka päivä=, are used
in the nominative. =Olen joka kerta matkustanut meritse=, _I have several
times travelled by sea_. =Hän on minun nähnyt harva kerta=, _he has
rarely seen me_. =Minä ratsastan joka päivä=, _I ride every day_.
_Genitive._