Finnish grammar: partitive

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Partitive, as the name suggests, concerns parts as opposed to wholes.

A) It is used for uncountable things (corresponding loosely to the English word some):

• Maitoa. (milk)
  

Minä ostan kaupasta maitoa. (I am buying some milk from the store)

• Paperia. (paper)
  

Anna minulle paperia. (Give me some paper)

B) It is used when stating an amount of more than 1:

• Kolme autoa. (three cars)
  
• Kaksikymmentä lasta. (twenty children)
  
• Sata ihmistä. (one hundred people)
  

C) It is used for objects in negative sentences:

• Omistan auton. (I own a car) -> En omista autoa. (I don't own a car)
  
• Hän ostaa lehden. (She buys a newspaper) -> Hän ei osta lehteä. (She doesn't buy a newspaper)
  
• Minä söin karkit. (I ate the candies) -> Minä en syönyt karkkeja. (I did not eat the candies)
  

D) It is also used when expressing the idea of non-completeness of an action, or how the action does not fully consume its object. This may be the bit learners find most difficult to master.

• Rakastan sinua (I love you).
  
• Luen kirjaa (I'm reading a book).
  
• Ajan autoa (I'm driving a car).
  

The partitive often has the accusative as its opposite. In other words, where partitive expresses non-completion or generality, using the accusative instead will express specificness, or that the action does/will have a definite conclusion. Note that the accusative singular of nouns and adjectives usually (but not always) corresponds to the genitive singular in form (auton [acc.] = auton [gen.]). The personal pronouns are an exception.

One use of the accusative is to express the future in affirmative sentences:

• Luen kirjan. = I will read a/the book.
  

(Luen kirjaa. = I am reading a/the book.)

When used with affirmative sentences in which the verb is in the past, the accusative case indicates that the action is complete.

• Luin kirjan. = I (did) read a/the book.
  

(Luin kirjaa. = I was reading a/the book.)

• Olen lukenut kirjan. = I have read a/the book.
  

(Olen lukenut kirjaa. = I have been reading a/the book.)

Some verbs (e.g. tietää) always takes the accusative case in the affirmative. There are even verbs which change their meaning depending on whether the object is in the accusative or partitive: for example, naida + accusative means “to marry”, but naida + partitive means “to have sex with”. Do watch out for these verbs.

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