Basic numerals

Numerals are relatively simple in Finnish, though the inflection partly differs from common patterns. The following table shows the basic numerals. Both the cardinal numerals (English zero, one, two etc.) and the ordinal numerals (English zeroth, first, second etc.) are given, in the nominative and in the genitive. The inflection stem of the numeral is obtained from the genitive by omitting its suffix n.

Biljoona (10¹²) is the 2nd power of miljoona (10⁶), cor­re­spond­ing old British English meanings. Higher powers of million follow the same principle: triljoona (10¹⁸), kvadriljoona (10²⁴), kvintiljoona (10³⁰) etc. However, all these words are best avoided. In translated texts, especially in newspapers, biljoona and triljoona are often incorrect translations of English “billion” and “trillion”, which correspond to Finnish miljardi and biljoona, respectively. Instead of biljoona, we can use tuhat miljardia for such reasons.

Except for 1, 2, and 3, the ordinal numeral is formed from the stem of the cardinal numeral by appending an ordinal suffix, which is s in the nominative. The suffix is appended to the weak inflection stem of the cardinal numeral.

The numeral neljä has the regular plural stem nelji-, but it has the variant neli-, e.g. neljissäkymmenissä ∼ nelissäkymmenissä (about forty years old). Only the variant neli- is used in some derivations, e.g. nelittäin (in groups of four).

Some numerals have special compositive forms used as the first component of a compound word: 3 kolmi-, 4 neli-, 7 seitsen-, and 10 kymmen-. Some compound numerals also have compositive forms.

For tuhat, there is an alternative, less common nominative form that coincides with the genitive: tuhannen. In modern language, it mostly appears in some sayings like tuhannen tulimmaista = tuhat tulimmaista (the deuce! literally “a thousand most fiery things/beings”).

Contrary to the English practice of saying “a hundred” or “one hundred”, Finnish never uses the numeral yksi (one) before sata or tuhat. With miljoona, miljardi, etc. it can be used, but only for emphasis, e.g. Uudistus maksoi vain yhden miljoonan (The reform cost only one million).