Taivutuspäätteiden

Taivutuspäätteet areinflectional endings in Finnish, suffixes attached to word stems to express grammatical meaning. They are a core part of Finnish morphology, used to indicate case and number for nouns and pronouns, as well as agreement and other grammatical categories on adjectives, numerals and verbs.

For nouns and pronouns, taivutuspäätteet mark case and number. Examples with the noun talo (house): nominative singular talo, genitive singular talon, nominative plural talot, inessive singular talossa, illative singular taloon, genitive plural talojen. Possessive suffixes attach to the noun to show ownership, for example taloni (my house), talosi (your house), talonsa (his/her/its house). Adjectives decline to agree with the noun they modify, so "iso talo" becomes "isot talot" in plural, showing how taivutuspäätteet carry over to the modifier.

Finnish verbs use taivutuspäätteet to mark person and tense in the present indicative, among other moods and forms. In the present tense, typical endings include -n (minä teen), -t (sinä teet), no suffix for hän/häns, and -mme, -tte, -vat/-vät for we, you (plural), and they. Verbal endings also reflect past tense and other aspects through stem changes and auxiliary constructions.

Other parts of speech interact with taivutuspäätteet as well: adjectives and numerals agree in number and case with the nouns they modify; pronouns and participles receive appropriate inflectional endings. The system is governed by vowel harmony, so many endings come in complementary forms (for example, -ssa/-ssä, -lla/-llä, -e, -i variants) to match the vowels of the stem. While productive, taivutuspäätteet include irregularities and dialectal variation.

See also: Finnish grammar, cases, vowel harmony, inflection.