nimimuoto

Nimimuoto is a linguistic term used in Finnish grammar to refer to the nominal form of a word—essentially the form that can function as a noun in a sentence. It covers words that can occupy a nominal slot in syntax, including nouns, pronouns and numerals when they function as heads of noun phrases. In many analyses, nimimuoto is the form cited in dictionaries or used as the lemma from which inflected forms are derived.

In grammar descriptions, nimimuoto serves as the basis for inflection. Nouns, pronouns and numerals can be inflected for case and number, and the nimimuoto is the starting point for listing these inflected forms. Adjectives that participate in noun phrases agree with the noun, but they are typically described in relation to the noun’s nimimuoto rather than as a separate nimimuoto themselves. The concept helps distinguish between what can be used as a noun and the various grammatical forms that word may take.

An example in Finnish: the nimimuoto of the word koira is koira. From this base, it can take forms such as koiran (genitive), koiraa (partitive), koirat (nominative plural), and koirien (genitive plural). The idea of nimimuoto is often contrasted with verb forms or other word classes, highlighting how words function when they occupy a nominal syntactic position.

The term is chiefly used in Finnish linguistic work, but the general idea appears in many languages as nominal form, noun form or lemma. See also: nominative case, noun phrase, inflection, lemma.