The partitive does an enormous amount of work in Finnish, so building its form quickly and correctly pays off constantly. The good news: the singular partitive suffix comes in only three shapes — -a/-ä, -ta/-tä, and -tta/-ttä — and which one you use is decided entirely by the shape of the stem, never by the meaning. This page is pure form. Master the three patterns and vowel harmony, and you can build the partitive of almost any noun on sight.
The one thing that never changes: vowel harmony
Before the three patterns, fix the vowel. Every partitive ending has a back version with a and a front version with ä, and the stem decides which:
- Stems with a, o, u → back ending (-a, -ta, -tta): talo → taloa, maa → maata.
- Stems with ä, ö, y → front ending (-ä, -tä, -ttä): kylä → kylää, työ → työtä.
- Stems with only e, i (neutral) → front ending: vesi → vettä, tie → tietä.
You never mix — taloä and kyläa are both impossible. See suffix pairs for the full harmony machinery. With harmony settled, pick one of the three patterns below.
Pattern 1: -a / -ä on single-vowel stems
If the stem ends in a single short vowel, add plain -a / -ä. This covers the large majority of everyday nouns — those ending in -o, -u, -y, -ö, -i, and many in -a / -ä.
| Word | Partitive | Note |
|---|---|---|
| talo (house) | taloa | o + a |
| koulu (school) | koulua | u + a |
| kahvi (coffee) | kahvia | i + a |
| kala (fish) | kalaa | a + a → doubled aa |
| kylä (village) | kylää | ä + ä → doubled ää |
| pöytä (table) | pöytää | ä + ä → doubled ää |
Watch the last three: when the stem itself ends in -a or -ä and you add -a/-ä, the vowel doubles in writing — kala → kalaa, kylä → kylää. This doubling is phonemic; kalaa (two morae) is a different word-shape from kala, so never drop a letter.
Katson pöytää ja mietin, mahtuuko se keittiöön.
I'm looking at the table and wondering whether it'll fit in the kitchen.
Naapurin lapsi käy jo koulua.
The neighbor's child already goes to school.
Otatko kahvia vai teetä?
Would you like coffee or tea?
Pattern 2: -ta / -tä on consonants, long vowels, and diphthongs
Add -ta / -tä when the stem does not end in a single short vowel — that is, when it ends in a consonant, a long vowel, or a diphthong.
Consonant-final stems (many end in -s, -n, or a hidden consonant):
| Word | Partitive |
|---|---|
| vieras (guest) | vierasta |
| mies (man) | miestä |
| kysymys (question) | kysymystä |
| käsi (hand) | kättä |
| vesi (water) | vettä |
Käsi and vesi look surprising because their partitive shows a double t — kättä, vettä. There is no mystery: these are -si words whose consonant stem ends in t (kät-, vet-), so the stem t plus the suffix t meet as tt. The ending is still the ordinary -tä of this pattern.
Long-vowel and diphthong stems (mostly short, one-syllable words):
| Word | Partitive |
|---|---|
| maa (land, country) | maata |
| puu (tree) | puuta |
| työ (work) | työtä |
| tie (road) | tietä |
| tee (tea) | teetä |
Suomessa on paljon metsää ja puhdasta vettä.
Finland has a lot of forest and clean water.
Odotan vierasta, joten en ehdi nyt.
I'm expecting a guest, so I don't have time right now.
Tätä työtä on liikaa yhdelle ihmiselle.
This is too much work for one person.
Pattern 3: -tta / -ttä on -e nouns
A closed class of nouns whose dictionary form ends in -e builds the partitive with a geminated (doubled) t: -tta / -ttä. These are the e-stems, and they are worth memorizing as a group because nothing on the surface warns you.
| Word | Partitive |
|---|---|
| huone (room) | huonetta |
| perhe (family) | perhettä |
| kappale (piece, chapter) | kappaletta |
| osoite (address) | osoitetta |
| lause (sentence) | lausetta |
Here the double t belongs entirely to the ending: huone → huone-tta. Do not confuse these with kättä/vettä above, where the doubling came from the stem — the result looks similar but the class is different, and the -e nouns are the ones you must flag in advance.
Meillä on kolme huonetta ja iso keittiö.
We have three rooms and a big kitchen.
Tämä aihe kiinnostaa koko perhettä.
This topic interests the whole family.
The three side by side
Put them together and the logic — stem shape decides the ending — becomes visible:
| Stem type | Ending | Back example | Front example |
|---|---|---|---|
| single short vowel | -a / -ä | talo → taloa | kylä → kylää |
| consonant / long vowel / diphthong | -ta / -tä | maa → maata | käsi → kättä |
| -e noun | -tta / -ttä | osoite → osoitetta | huone → huonetta |
Kirjoitin osoitetta muistiin ja katselin samalla taloa.
I was writing down the address and looking at the house at the same time.
A note on the plural
Everything above is the singular partitive. The plural partitive (taloja, kysymyksiä, huoneita) adds an -i- plural marker before the ending and has its own set of shapes — that is a separate topic covered on the partitive plural page. Keep the two apart: kolme taloa (singular partitive, after a number) is not the same form as taloja (plural partitive, "houses in general").
Common Mistakes
❌ Meillä on kolme huonea.
Incorrect — -e nouns geminate the t: huonetta.
✅ Meillä on kolme huonetta.
We have three rooms.
❌ Juon paljon vetä.
Incorrect — vesi has a consonant stem (vet-): vettä, not *vetä.
✅ Juon paljon vettä.
I drink a lot of water.
❌ Ostin palan maaa.
Incorrect — a monosyllabic long-vowel stem takes -ta, not more vowel: maata, never *maaa.
✅ Ostin palan maata.
I bought a piece of land.
❌ En syö kaläa.
Incorrect — kala is a back-vowel stem, so the ending is back: kalaa.
✅ En syö kalaa.
I don't eat fish.
❌ Näen kyläa tuolla.
Incorrect — front-vowel stem, front ending, doubled vowel: kylää.
✅ Näen kylää tuolla.
I can see a village over there.
Key Takeaways
- The singular partitive has three shapes, chosen by stem form: -a/-ä (single short vowel), -ta/-tä (consonant, long vowel, diphthong), -tta/-ttä (-e nouns).
- Vowel harmony is absolute: back stems → -a/-ta/-tta, front and neutral stems → -ä/-tä/-ttä.
- Stems ending in -a/-ä double the vowel: kala → kalaa, kylä → kylää.
- The double t in kättä/vettä comes from the stem; the double t in huonetta comes from the ending — different classes, similar look.
- The plural partitive is a separate build — see the partitive plural.
Now practice Finnish
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Start learning Finnish→Related Topics
- The Partitive: Finland's Most Important CaseA1 — The partitive marks unbounded quantity and unfinished events — after numbers, under negation, with mass nouns, and as a partial object; the hub for the whole partitive.
- The Plural Partitive: -ja/-jä, -ia/-iä, -ita/-itäB1 — The plural partitive (taloja, käsiä, maita) marks an indefinite plural quantity — some Xs — versus the definite nominative -t plural (talot).
- The -e Stems: kieli → kiele-B1 — A large, deceptive class: nouns ending in -i that inflect on an -e- stem (kieli→kielen, ovi→oven), unlike loanwords in -i that keep the -i (pankki→pankin).
- Harmony in Suffixes: -ssa/-ssä, -lla/-lläA1 — Most Finnish case endings come in two shapes (-ssa/-ssä, -lla/-llä); a few, like -n and -ksi, never change. Which alternate, and how to pick.
- -si Words: vesi → vede-/vet-B1 — Nouns in -si like vesi and käsi hide a t-based stem that surfaces three ways — d, t, and s — all from one historical *t.