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Finnish

In English, words like "scissors" and "pants" are always plural. Finnish has many of these "plural-only" words (known as *pluralia tantum*). 

When you want to say "one pair of pants" or "two pairs of scissors", you cannot use standard singular numbers like **yksi** or **kaksi**. Instead, you must use **plural numerals**.

Because the noun is in the nominative plural (usually ending in **-t**), the number takes a matching **-t** ending:

| Number | Plural form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | yhdet | one (pair / set of) |
| 2 | kahdet | two (pairs / sets of) |
| 3 | kolmet | three (pairs / sets of) |

### Clothing and Accessories

For items that come in pairs, such as sunglasses (**aurinkolasit**) or swimming trunks (**uimahousut**), use a plural numeral to state how many pairs you have.

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### Tools and Equipment

Many tools and pieces of equipment are also plural-only words. This includes tweezers (**pinsetit**), binoculars (**kiikarit**), and ladders (**tikapuut**). 

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### Events and Ceremonies

Interestingly, Finnish treats certain events as plural words too. For example, opening ceremonies (**avajaiset**) and funerals (**hautajaiset**) always take plural numerals when counted.

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Plural numerals (yhdet, kahdet)

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 (-ja / -jä)

Question	Answer
sunglasses	aurinkolasit
I need one pair of sunglasses for the trip.	Minä tarvitsen yhdet aurinkolasit matkaa varten.
Do you know if he bought two pairs of sunglasses?	Tiedätkö, ostiko hän kahdet aurinkolasit?
swimming trunks	uimahousut
The boy has two pairs of swimming trunks, but he still wants new ones.	Pojalla on kahdet uimahousut, mutta hän haluaa silti uudet.
Did you say that you packed three pairs of swimming trunks?	Sanoitko, että pakkasit kolmet uimahousut?
bra	rintaliivit
She bought two bras from the clothing store.	Hän osti kahdet rintaliivit vaatekaupasta.
I noticed that one bra is really expensive.	Huomasin, että yhdet rintaliivit ovat todella kalliit.
suspenders	henkselit
Grandfather has three pairs of suspenders.	Isoisällä on kolmet henkselit.
I have one pair of suspenders, but I will buy another pair anyway.	Minulla on yhdet henkselit, mutta ostan kuitenkin toiset.
tweezers	pinsetit
We need one pair of tweezers for this task.	Me tarvitsemme yhdet pinsetit tätä tehtävää varten.
Do you know where those two pairs of tweezers are?	Tiedätkö, missä ne kahdet pinsetit ovat?
binoculars (plural)	kiikarit
Do you have one pair of binoculars?	Onko sinulla yhdet kiikarit?
I bought two pairs of binoculars so that we can both watch.	Ostin kahdet kiikarit, jotta voimme kumpikin katsella.
stroller	rattaat
The family bought one stroller for the baby.	Perhe osti yhdet rattaat vauvalle.
Did you hear that they have two strollers?	Kuulitko, että heillä on kahdet rattaat?
ladder	tikapuut
We have one ladder in the garage.	Meillä on yhdet tikapuut autotallissa.
The neighbor borrowed one ladder, but we still have another one.	Naapuri lainasi yhdet tikapuut, mutta meillä on silti toiset.
opening ceremony	avajaiset
Only one opening ceremony is being organized this week.	Tällä viikolla järjestetään vain yhdet avajaiset.
I remember that that particular opening ceremony was awesome.	Muistan, että ne yhdet avajaiset olivat mahtavat.
funeral	hautajaiset
There are two funerals this week.	Tällä viikolla on kahdet hautajaiset.
Two funerals are too much.	Kahdet hautajaiset ovat liikaa.