Proto-Finnic/Nominal cases

Nominative Ending As with almost all languages with noun inflectional morphology, there is no ending in Proto-Finnic in singular. However, the nominative plural are formed by the suffix *-t to the oblique stem, and with most non-initial closed syllables are affected by consonant gradation (see /Phonology). *kala "fish" → *kalat "fishes" *joki "river" → *joget "rivers" *veci "water" → *vedet "waters" *pensas "brush" → *pensahet "brushes" Due to many phonological changes, the nominative singular form are often obscured from the oblique stem: Proto-Uralic final *-e usually merges with *-i and thus coinciding with i-stem nominals in nominative singular. The above change also caused assibilation of *-ti to *-ci. However, *-e could also lost in words with more than three syllables. This change also further obscured the stem: *-me → *-n, *-kse → *-s. The situation for the noun *südän "heart" is somewhat complicated due to later analogies, see /Nouns and adjectives. Special case for the diminutive suffix *-inen: the oblique stem is always *-icet instead of expected *-inenet. History The nominative plural comes from Proto-Uralic *-t. However, in the plural suffixes for South Estonian and the rest of Southern Finnic are -q (pronounced with /ʔ/, e.g. kalaq) and -d (usually pronounced as written, except /t/ in Estonian, e.g. kalad). Usage Functions as subject of the sentence. *Mees joos man-nom run-3sg.pres "The man runs." Accusative Ending This case always coincides with Proto-Finnic genitive singular in the singular and nominative singular in the plural. It attaches to the oblique stem. *kala "fish" → *kalan "fish (obj.)", *kalat "fishes (obj.)" *joki → *joget *veci "water" → *vedet "waters" *pensas "brush" → *pensahet "brushes" History The accusative singular comes from Proto-Uralic *-m. Due to regular phonological changes, this case was morphologically indistinguishable from genitive singular (see more at Genitive section). The accusative plural is borrowed from Proto-Uralic *-t due to the previously-mentioned syncretism with genitive. Usage Functions as subject of the sentence. *Mees joos man-nom run-3sg.pres "The man runs." Genitive Ending It is marked by the suffix *-n, however, in the plural, it is either *-den or *-iden. *kala "fish" → *kalan "fish (obj.)", *kalat "fishes (obj.)" *joki → *joget *veci "water" → *vedet "waters" *pensas "brush" → *pensahet "brushes" History The accusative singular comes from Proto-Uralic *-m. Due to regular phonological changes, this case was morphologically indistinguishable from genitive singular (see more at Genitive section). The accusative plural is borrowed from Proto-Uralic *-t due to the previously-mentioned syncretism with genitive.