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Subject and object
Nominative, genetive and partitive are the most important cases. They have special grammatical functions, that's why they are often called grammatical cases. The most important function is to distinguish the subject and the object.
Nominative
Subject is often in nominative case. Here koira (a dog) is in nominative, thus it's the object:
- Koira puri miestä. (The dog bit the man)
- Miestä puri koira.
If mies (a man) is in nominative case, it will change the meaning.
- Mies puri koiraa.
- Koiraa puri mies.
Now the man is the subject. Because the word order is quite free in Finnish, the case tells us who bit who.
Sometimes the object can be in nominative.
- In commands: Tee varaus ajoissa!
- after a verb in passive mood: Laukusta varastettiin kännykkä. (A cell phone was stolen from a bag.)
Predicatives describe the subject, and they are in nominative:
- Talvi on kylmä.
- Hanki on valkoinen.
Genetive
The genetive is the possessive case:
- Miehen koira
- Koiran luu
In Finnish, the genetive has also other uses, such as marking the object:
- Mies söi leivän.
Partitive
Basic meaning of the partitive case is part of something, or undefinite amount.
- Pihalla oli lunta. (There was snow outside)
- Vesi oli kylmää. (The water was cold)
- Saisinko vettä? (May I have some water?)
Like the genetive, also the partitive can mark the object:
- Mies söi leipää.
Thus: the subject is in nominative case and the object eather in genetive or partitive.
Genetive or partitive?
Object of the sentence can be in genetive or partitive case. The typical difference is, if the process is finished:
- Luin kirjan loppuun. (I read the book trough)
- Luin kirjaa illalla. ( I read the book in the evening)
Another difference is between the positive and negative sentence:
- Ostan tuon kirjan (I will buy that book)
- En osta tuota kirjaa. (I won't buy that book)
If the amount is indefinte, the noun is in partitive:
- Ostan pullon viiniä (I buy a bottle of wine)
- Ostan kaupasta viiniä ja leipää (I buy some wine and bread from the shop.)