Understanding Nominative vs. Accusative Cases in Finnish

What is the Nominative Case?

In Finnish, the nominative case is used to indicate the subject of a sentence. It is the default case and does not involve any special suffix. For example, in the sentence "Kissa on pöydällä" (The cat is on the table), "Kissa" (cat) is in the nominative case.

When to Use the Nominative Case

• Subject of a sentence
• Predicate noun
• Titles and names

What is the Accusative Case?

The accusative case is used to denote the direct object of a verb in Finnish. This case shows what is being acted upon by the subject. Unlike the nominative, accusative forms can change based on the context.

Accusative Case Forms

• Accusative Marked Form
• Accusative Unmarked Form

Rules for Choosing Between Nominative and Accusative

Choosing between nominative and accusative depends on the grammatical role of the noun in a sentence. The nominative is used for subjects, while the accusative is used for direct objects.

Examples to Illustrate the Difference

How Cases Affect Sentence Structure

Correct use of cases is crucial for meaning in Finnish as the position of words in a sentence is more flexible than in English. For instance, "Auton ostaa hän" (He buys a car) is just as correct as "Hän ostaa auton".