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### The Partitive Plural (-ja / -jä)

You already know that the partitive plural is used for indefinite amounts, negative sentences, and after quantity words. In this lesson, we will look at the **-ja** and **-jä** endings.

If a word ends in **-a** (like *kirja*), the **-a** often changes to **-o-** before adding the **-ja** ending. Remember that adjectives must agree with the noun they describe!

{{item:906176}}

For words ending in **-o**, **-ö**, **-u**, or **-y**, the rule is even simpler: you just add **-ja** or **-jä** directly to the end of the word.

{{item:906178}}

You will also use these endings when expressing an amount with words like *paljon* (a lot).

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### Vowel Changes with -i

If a word ends in **-i** (like *teksti* or *romaani*), the final **-i** changes to **-e-** before adding the **-jä** or **-ja** ending.

{{item:906184}}

{{item:906186}}

### Mixing Endings

Because adjectives and nouns have different stems, they will often take different partitive plural endings. For example, an adjective might take the **-ia / -iä** ending you learned previously, while the noun it describes takes **-ja / -jä**. They are both correctly in the partitive plural, even if they look slightly different!

{{item:906190}}

Finally, just like in the singular, the partitive plural is required as the object of a negative sentence.

{{item:906197}}

Partitive plural (-ja / -jä)

adjective

adposition

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

postposition

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstrative pronouns (tämä, tuo, se)

Singular personal pronouns (minä, sinä, hän)

Plural personal pronouns (me, te, he)

Plural demonstratives (nämä, nuo, ne)

Coordinating conjunctions (ja, mutta, tai)

Yes/no questions (-ko / -kö)

Basic question words (kuka, mikä, missä)

Negation of to be (en ole, ei ole)

The inessive case (-ssa / -ssä)

Double consonant gradation (kk, pp, tt)

Consonant gradation (-ssa/-ssä)

Verb Type 1 (puhun, puhut, puhuu)

Verb Type 1 with consonant gradation

Negative verbs (en puhu, et lue)

External location (-lla/-llä)

There is / there are (kaupungissa on)

Possession (minulla on)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yksi, kaksi, kolme)

The partitive singular (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Quantities with numbers (kaksi autoa)

Negative possession (ei ole)

Numbers 11 to 100 and 1000

Partitive verbs

Partitive personal pronouns (minua, sinua)

Verb Type 2 (-da/-dä)

Partitive for mass nouns (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Partitive for negative objects

Adjective agreement

Verb Type 3

The elative case (-sta/-stä)

Negative possession (minulla ei ole…)

The illative case (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Numbers 21 to 99

Static vs. movement verbs

Verb Type 4 (-Vta / -Vtä)

Verb Type 5 (-ita / -itä)

Genitive singular for possession (-n)

Total object (-n)

Accusative personal pronouns (-t)

Obligation (täytyy)

Into places (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Postpositions with the genitive

My and your (-ni, -si)

Onto and to someone (-lle)

From someone or somewhere (-lta, -ltä)

Telling time (kello on...)

Months of the year (-ssa, -ssä)

Days of the week (-na, -nä)

When and why (milloin, miksi)

The illative case (mihin, -Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Past tense of to be (olin, olit, oli)

The seasons (kevät, kesä, syksy, talvi)

The imperative mood (lue!, syö!, mene!)

The past tense of to be (olin, oli)

The illative case (-hVn, -seen)

Greetings and goodbyes (hei, näkemiin)

Thank you and sorry (kiitos, anteeksi)

Liking things (pitää / tykätä + -sta/-stä)

Temporary states and roles (-na/-nä)

Change of state (-ksi)

Ongoing actions (-massa/-mässä)

Going to do an action (-maan/-mään)

Returning from an action (-masta/-mästä)

Third-person possessives (-nsa/-nsä or -Vn)

Plural possessives (-mme, -nne)

Indefinite pronouns (joku, jokin, kaikki)

Negative indefinite pronouns (ei kukaan, ei mikään)

Commands for verb types 4 and 5

Adverb formation (-sti)

Past tense for verb type 1 (-i-)

Past tense vowel changes for verb type 1 (-o- / -i-)

Past tense for verb type 2 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 3 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 4 (-si-)

Past tense for verb type 5 (-itsi-)

Past tense consonant gradation

Past participles for verb types 1 and 2 (-nut / -nyt)

Past participle singular for verb types 3-5 (-nnut, -llut)

Active past participle plural (-neet)

Past tense negative (en mennyt, emme olleet)

The perfect tense (olen ollut)

The perfect tense negative (en ole nähnyt)

Total plural objects (-t)

Partitive plural (-ia / -iä)

Partitive plural (-ita / -itä)

Question	Answer
thick	paksu
I have read thick books.	Olen lukenut paksuja kirjoja.
the poem	runo
I often read poems.	Minä luen usein runoja.
the novel	romaani
the page	sivu
There are a lot of pages in this novel.	Tässä romaanissa on paljon sivuja.
the text	teksti
the story	juttu
He writes texts and stories.	Hän kirjoittaa tekstejä ja juttuja.
to recommend	suositella
I recommend new novels.	Suosittelen uusia romaaneja.
the chapter	luku
The book had bad chapters.	Kirjassa oli huonoja lukuja.
the notebook	vihko
Do you recommend good notebooks?	Suositteletko hyviä vihkoja?
Read pages and texts!	Lue sivuja ja tekstejä!
I am in the library and looking for poems.	Olen kirjastossa ja etsin runoja.
the review	arvostelu
We have read stories and reviews.	Me olemme lukeneet juttuja ja arvosteluja.
I often read reviews.	Luen usein arvosteluja.
Are these thick notebooks yours?	Ovatko nämä paksut vihkot sinun?
I do not understand the chapters.	En ymmärrä lukuja.
many (a)	moni
Many people read novels.	Moni ihminen lukee romaaneja.
Many a page is blank.	Moni sivu on tyhjä.
the brain (plural-only in Finnish)	aivot
The human brain is big.	Ihmisen aivot ovat isot.
We use the brain when we read and write.	Käytämme aivoja, kun luemme ja kirjoitamme.

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