Everything else in Finnish counting is built from these ten words, so they are worth memorising cleanly and correctly. Two things about them surprise English speakers immediately: some of them carry a final -n that belongs to the word itself (not a grammatical ending), and — the big one — as soon as you count more than one of something, the counted noun goes into the partitive singular, not the plural. Finnish says "two of cat," keeping the noun singular. This page fixes the ten forms and previews the two rules that the rest of the numeral chapter unpacks.
The base ten
| Digit | Finnish | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | yksi | |
| 2 | kaksi | |
| 3 | kolme | |
| 4 | neljä | front vowel — spelled with ä, never nelja |
| 5 | viisi | |
| 6 | kuusi | |
| 7 | seitsemän | the final -n is part of the word |
| 8 | kahdeksan | final -n part of the word |
| 9 | yhdeksän | final -n part of the word; front ä |
| 10 | kymmenen |
Stress, as always in Finnish, falls on the first syllable: YK-si, KAK-si, SEIT-se-män. Note the harmony split hiding in the higher numbers — kahdeksan (8) has a back a, but yhdeksän (9) has a front ä. That one contrast rides along into every larger number built on them.
Meillä on yksi koira ja kaksi kissaa.
We have one dog and two cats.
Viikossa on seitsemän päivää.
There are seven days in a week.
The counting rule: one takes nominative, two-and-up take the partitive
This is the rule that makes Finnish numbers feel foreign. After yksi "one," the counted noun stays in its plain dictionary form (the nominative). After any number from two upward, the noun switches to the partitive singular.
| With "one" | With "two and up" |
|---|---|
| yksi kissa "one cat" | kaksi kissaa "two cats" |
| yksi talo "one house" | kolme taloa "three houses" |
| yksi euro "one euro" | viisi euroa "five euros" |
| yksi lapsi "one child" | kuusi lasta "six children" |
The logic is quantitative: a partitive marks a part of or an amount of something, and a count of two, three, four is exactly that — an amount. English forces a plural ("two cats"), but Finnish keeps the noun singular and simply marks it partitive.
Ostin kolme omenaa ja kaksi banaania.
I bought three apples and two bananas.
Kahvi maksaa neljä euroa.
The coffee costs four euros.
Odota viisi minuuttia, olen kohta valmis.
Wait five minutes, I'll be ready soon.
Perheessä on kahdeksan lasta.
There are eight children in the family.
The full story — why the partitive, and what happens once the whole phrase itself lands in another case — lives on the number + partitive page. For now, drill the reflex: number bigger than one → noun in the partitive singular.
A preview of the inflection stems
Numbers are nouns too, and they inflect. You will meet their oblique stems soon, and a couple are irregular enough that it helps to see them coming — especially kaksi, whose genitive kahden shares nothing obvious with the nominative:
| Number | Genitive ("of…") |
|---|---|
| yksi | yhden |
| kaksi | kahden |
| kolme | kolmen |
| neljä | neljän |
| viisi | viiden |
| kuusi | kuuden |
Notice that yksi, kaksi, viisi, kuusi all swap their -ksi/-isi ending for a -hde-/-ide- stem (yhde-, kahde-, viide-, kuude-). And for seitsemän, kahdeksan, yhdeksän, kymmenen, the genitive is identical to the nominative — seitsemän lapsen "of seven children" — because the word already ends in the -n the genitive would add. The complete case tables are on the declining numbers page; here, just note that kaksi → kahde- so it isn't a shock later.
Kello on jo kymmenen, mennään nukkumaan.
It's already ten o'clock, let's go to bed.
Lapsi osaa jo laskea yhdestä kymmeneen.
The child can already count from one to ten.
Common mistakes
Nearly every beginner error comes from applying English plural logic to a Finnish number.
❌ Minulla on kaksi kissat.
Incorrect — after a number above one the noun is partitive singular, not plural: kaksi kissaa.
✅ Minulla on kaksi kissaa.
I have two cats.
❌ Ostin kolme talo.
Incorrect — two-and-up need the partitive, not the bare nominative: kolme taloa.
✅ Ostin kolme taloa.
I bought three houses.
❌ Meillä on yksi lasta.
Incorrect — after 'yksi' the noun stays nominative: yksi lapsi.
✅ Meillä on yksi lapsi.
We have one child.
❌ Perheessä on kahdeksa lasta.
Incorrect — the final -n belongs to the word: kahdeksan.
✅ Perheessä on kahdeksan lasta.
There are eight children in the family.
❌ Kahvi maksaa nelja euroa.
Incorrect — four is spelled with ä: neljä.
✅ Kahvi maksaa neljä euroa.
The coffee costs four euros.
Key takeaways
- The ten cardinals: yksi, kaksi, kolme, neljä, viisi, kuusi, seitsemän, kahdeksan, yhdeksän, kymmenen — first-syllable stress, neljä with ä.
- The -n in seitsemän, kahdeksan, yhdeksän is part of the word, not a case ending — never drop it.
- Counting rule: yksi
- nominative (yksi kissa); two and up
- partitive singular (kaksi kissaa, kolme taloa). Finnish keeps the noun singular.
- nominative (yksi kissa); two and up
- The inflection stems are partly irregular — especially kaksi → kahde- (genitive kahden); 7–10 have a genitive identical to the nominative.
Now practice Finnish
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Start learning Finnish→Related Topics
- Numbers 11–100A1 — Build the teens with -toista and the tens with -kymmentä — yksitoista (11), kaksikymmentä (20), kaksikymmentäyksi (21) — all written as single words.
- Numbers Take the Partitive Singular: kaksi kissaaA2 — The signature Finnish counting rule — every cardinal above one governs the partitive singular of the counted noun, which stays singular: kaksi kissaa, sata euroa.
- Ordinal Numbers: ensimmäinen, toinen, kolmasA2 — The Finnish ordinals from first to tenth — the two irregular low forms and the regular -s series built on the cardinal.
- Declining Numbers: kahdessa talossaB1 — Finnish numerals are inflected nouns — in any case but the counting nominative, both the number and its noun take that case: kaksi taloa → kahdessa talossa.