Proto-Finnic/Nominal cases

Nominative

Ending

As with almost all languages with noun inflectional morphology, there is no ending in Proto-Finnic in singular. However, the nominative plural are formed by the suffix *-t to the oblique stem, and with most non-initial closed syllables are affected by consonant gradation (see /Phonology).

• *kala "fish" → *kalat "fishes"
• *joki "river" → *joget "rivers"
• *veci "water" → *vedet "waters"
• *pensas "brush" → *pensahet "brushes"

Due to many phonological changes, the nominative singular form are often obscured from the oblique stem:

• Proto-Uralic final *-e usually merges with *-i and thus coinciding with i-stem nominals in nominative singular.
• The above change also caused assibilation of *-ti to *-ci.
• However, *-e could also lost in words with more than three syllables. This change also further obscured the stem: *-me → *-n, *-kse → *-s.
• The situation for the noun *südän "heart" is somewhat complicated due to later analogies, see /Nouns and adjectives.
• Special case for the diminutive suffix *-inen: the oblique stem is always *-icet instead of expected *-inenet.

History

The nominative plural comes from Proto-Uralic *-t. However, in the plural suffixes for South Estonian and the rest of Southern Finnic are -q (pronounced with /ʔ/, e.g. kalaq) and -d (usually pronounced as written, except /t/ in Estonian, e.g. kalad).

Usage

Functions as subject of the sentence.

*Mees	joos
man-nom	run-3sg.pres
"The man runs."

Accusative

Ending

This case always coincides with Proto-Finnic genitive singular in the singular and nominative singular in the plural. It attaches to the oblique stem.

• *kala "fish" → *kalan "fish (obj.)", *kalat "fishes (obj.)"
• *joki → *joget
• *veci "water" → *vedet "waters"
• *pensas "brush" → *pensahet "brushes"

History

The accusative singular comes from Proto-Uralic *-m. Due to regular phonological changes, this case was morphologically indistinguishable from genitive singular (see more at Genitive section). The accusative plural is borrowed from Proto-Uralic *-t due to the previously-mentioned syncretism with genitive.

Usage

Functions as subject of the sentence.

*Mees	joos
man-nom	run-3sg.pres
"The man runs."

Genitive

Ending

It is marked by the suffix *-n, however, in the plural, it is either *-den or *-iden.

• *kala "fish" → *kalan "fish (obj.)", *kalat "fishes (obj.)"
• *joki → *joget
• *veci "water" → *vedet "waters"
• *pensas "brush" → *pensahet "brushes"

History

The accusative singular comes from Proto-Uralic *-m. Due to regular phonological changes, this case was morphologically indistinguishable from genitive singular (see more at Genitive section). The accusative plural is borrowed from Proto-Uralic *-t due to the previously-mentioned syncretism with genitive.