Genitivemuotoa

Genitivemuotoa, or the genitive form, is the grammatical form used to express possession and related relationships in Finnish. It is one of the core noun inflections in the Finnish case system and appears on nouns, and to some extent on pronouns and adjectives, to indicate ownership, origin, or association. The genitive also marks certain syntactic roles and relationships in phrases.

Formation and varieties: The genitive has singular and plural forms. The singular is formed by attaching a genitive suffix to the noun stem (for example, talo → talon, kissa → kissan, koira → koiran). The plural genitive forms vary by word and phonology (for example, koira → koirien; talo → talojen). The exact pattern depends on stem type, vowel harmony, and consonant gradation. In addition to the bare genitive, Finnish also uses a possessive suffix system (omistusliite) to indicate ownership directly, as in taloni (my house) or talosi (your house).

Usage and examples: The genitive primarily signals possession, proximity, or association, as in talon ovi (the door of the house) or koirien luut (the dogs’ bones). It can also appear in phrases where one noun governs another in a genitive-like relation, and in certain fixed expressions. The possessive suffixes offer a parallel way to express ownership without a separate possessor noun, yielding forms such as taloni, kotimme (our home), or kirjasi (your book).

Relation to other grammar: The genitive is distinct from the partitive and other cases, but it often overlaps with possession-focused meanings. It interacts with word-final changes and with the broader inflectional system of Finnish.

See also: Genetiivi, omistusliite, Finnish grammar.