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Numbers in Finnish are highly systematic, but they can throw a few surprises too. For details of other aspects of the language, please see the Finnish language grammar article.

These are the ordinary counting numbers: here are 0 to 10:

Cardinal numbers
Finnish English
nolla zero
yksi one
kaksi two
kolme three
neljä four
viisi five
kuusi six
seitsemän seven
kahdeksan eight
yhdeksän nine
kymmenen ten

To get the teens, 'toista' is added to the base number: yksitoista, kaksitoista ... yhdeksäntoista. ('Toista' actually means 'of second [decade]'. Formerly it has been used for numbers over 19, too: e.g. 35 would be 'viisineljättä', 'five-of-fourth'.)

Twenty is simply 'kaksikymmentä' = 'two tens' (with kymmenen appearing in the partitive after a number as is normal for nouns). Then the decades are kolmekymmentä, neljäkymmentä ... yhdeksänkymmentä.

100 is 'sata', 200 is 'kaksisataa' and so on.

1000 is 'tuhat', 2000 is 'kaksituhatta' and so on.

So, 3721 = 'kolme-tuhatta-seitsemän-sataa-kaksi-kymmentä-yksi' (actually written as one long word with no dashes in between).

Long numbers (like 32534756) are separated in three numbers sections with space beginning from the end of the number (for example 32 534 756). Writing it with letters follow the spacing, in the example (in numbers over one million, 'miljoona' ('million') is written separately) 'kolme-kymmentä-kaksi miljoonaa viisi-sataa-kolme-kymmentä-neljä-tuhatta seitsemän-sataa-viisi-kymmentä-kuusi'. (No dashes, they are only to make the number look clear.)

Numbers can be inflected in cases; all parts of the number except 'toista' are inflected.

Nouns following a number in the nominative singular are usually in the singular partitive case, IF the noun does not need to be in any other case AND if the number is any number other than yksi (one).

If the number is yksi (one) AND it is in the nominative singular then the noun and any adjectives following it will also be in the singular nominative.

But if the sentence structure demands that the noun is in some case other than the nominative, the number as well as the noun and any adjectives following it will take that other case. For example:

Finnish English
kaksi päivää two day-PART
kahtena päivänä on/during two days
kahdessatoista maassa in twelve countries
kolmellekymmenelleviidelle hengelle for thirty-five persons

Numerals have also plural forms, which usually refer to things naturally occurring in pairs or other similarly well-defined sets, such as body parts and clothing items. Also names of celebrations are usually in the plural. The plural forms are inflected in cases in the same way as the corresponding nouns. For instance:

Finnish English
kahdet saappaat two pairs of boots
kolmissa jalanjäljissä in three sets of footprints
Neljät häät ja yhdet hautajaiset Four Weddings and a (One) Funeral

Numbers from one to six are apparently original in etymology. The words kahdeksan "eight" and yhdeksän "nine" have no confirmed etymology. One theory is that they are compounds: *kaks-teksa "10–2", or "eight" and *yks-teksa "10–1", or "nine", where the reconstructed word *teksa is similar to the Indo-European words for "ten".


These are the 'ordering' form of the numbers - first, second, third and so on. Ordinal numbers are generally formed by adding an '-s' ending, but 'first' and 'second' are completely different, and for the others then stems are not straightforward:

Ordinal numbers 1-10
Finnish English
ensimmäinen first
toinen second
kolmas third
neljäs fourth
viides fifth
kuudes sixth
seitsemäs seventh
kahdeksas eighth
yhdeksäs ninth
kymmenes tenth

For teens, you change the first part of the word; however note how 'first' and 'second' lose their irregularity in 'eleven' and 'twelve':

Ordinal numbers 11-19
Finnish English
yhdestoista eleventh
kahdestoista twelfth
kolmastoista thirteenth
neljästoista fourteenth
viidestoista fifteenth
kuudestoista sixteenth
seitsemästoista seventeenth
kahdeksastoista eighteenth
yhdeksästoista nineteenth

For twenty through ninety-nine, all parts of the number get the '-s' ending. 'First' and 'second' take the irregular form only at the end of a word. The regular forms are possible for them but they are less common.

Ordinal numbers 20-
Finnish English
kahdeskymmenes twentieth
kahdeskymmenesensimmäinen twenty-first (also 'kahdeskymmenesyhdes')
kahdeskymmenestoinen twenty-second (also 'kahdeskymmeneskahdes')
kahdeskymmeneskolmas twenty-third

100th is 'sadas', 1000th is 'tuhannes', 3721st is 'kolmas-tuhannes-seitsemäs-sadas-kahdes-kymmenes-ensimmäinen'. (Again, dashes only included here for clarity; the word is properly spelled without them.)

Like cardinals, ordinal numbers can also be inflected:

Finnish English
kolmatta viikkoa for (already) the third week
viidennessätoista kerroksessa in the fifteenth floor
tuhannennelle asiakkaalle to the thousandth customer

The 'toista' in the 'teens' is actually the partitive of 'toinen', which is why 'toista' gets no further inflection endings. (Literally 'yksitoista || one-of-the-second'.)

Long ordinal numbers in Finnish are typed in almost the same way than the long cardinal numbers. 32534756 would be (in numbers over one million, 'miljoona' ('million') is written separately) 'kolmas-kymmenes-kahdes miljoonas viides-sadas-kolmas-kymmenes-neljäs-tuhannes seitsemäs-sadas-viides-kymmenes-kuudes'. (Still, no dashes.)

Names of numbers

editar

This is a feature of Finnish which doesn't have an exact counterpart in English (but in colloquial German it does, for example: 7er, 190er, 205er). These forms are used to refer to the actual number itself, rather than the quantity or order which the number represents. This should be clearer from the examples below, but first here is the list:

Names of numbers
Finnish English
nolla nil, number zero
ykkönen number one
kakkonen number two
kolmonen number three
nelonen number four
viitonen number five
kuutonen number six
seitsemän number seven (vernacular: 'seiska')
kahdeksan or kahdeksikko number eight (vernacular: 'kasi')
yhdeksän or yhdeksikkö number nine (vernacular: 'ysi')
kymmenen number ten (vernacular: 'kymppi', 'kybä')
satanen number hundred

Also, 'kahdeksikko' refers to the shape of the number. Some examples of how these are used:

The 'number three tram' is the 'kolmonen' — when you are riding it, you are 'kolmosella'
A magazine has the title '7' and is called 'Seiska'
My car, a '93 model, is an 'ysi kolmonen' when buying spare parts
If the car is a 190E Mercedes, it would be a 'sataysikymppi'.
If a car has tyres in size of 205, they would be called 'kaks(i)sataviitoset' resp. kaks(i)sataviitosia'.
The '106' bus is the 'sata kuutonen'
A 5 € bill may be called "vitonen", a 10 € bill "kymppi" (in plural: "kympit"/"kymppejä"), a 20 € "kaksikymppinen", a 100 € bill "satanen", etc.