yhteisnimi

Yhteisnimi is a term used in Finnish grammar to denote a common noun—the word class that names a class or type of things rather than a single, unique entity. It is used to refer to ordinary nouns that can denote any member of a group, such as koira (dog), talo (house), and kaupungi (city). The opposite category is oma nimi or omainsnimi, which refers to proper nouns that name specific entities like a person, a city, or an organization.

In Finnish, yhteisnimi is declined like other nouns. They have singular and plural forms and are inflected for all cases. For example, koira becomes koiran in the genitive, koirat in the plural, and koiraa in the partitive, with corresponding forms in other cases. This nominative-plural and case-inflection pattern applies broadly to common nouns, including yhteisnimi.

Yhteisnimi can be modified by adjectives and determiners and can appear with numerals that quantify the class it names, such as “kolme koiraa” (three dogs) or “iso talo” (big house). They are used when speaking generally about a category or class of objects rather than about a specific item.

In some grammars, the term is also described under the broader label yleisnimi, with slight variations in terminology across sources. Related concepts include substantiivi (noun) and omainsnimi (proper noun), which together describe the full range of Finnish noun types.