Old numeral-like nouns

As in other languages, some old numeral-like nouns are used for expressing amounts in special contexts:

• tikkuri (dicker), 10 pieces, about fur etc.; historical
• tusina (dozen), 12 pieces, e.g. kaksi tusinaa kahvikuppeja (two dozens of coffee cups); used less often than “dozen” in English, e.g. dozens of pages normally corresponds to kymmeniä sivuja, even though the meaning is nominally different
• tiu (score), 20 pieces, used about eggs, e.g. tiu kananmunia (a score of eggs); now rare
• kirja (quire), 25 pieces, about sheets of paper
• krossi (gross), 144 pieces; rare
• riisi (ream), 500 pieces, about sheets of paper
• pakka (10 reams), 5,000 pieces, about sheets of paper

These nouns are used so that they may be preceded by a normal numeral, causing the noun to appear in the partitive singular, e.g. kaksi tusinaa. An associated normal noun that expresses the type of article is in the partitive plural, e.g. tusina kuppeja or kaksi tusinaa kuppeja.