Editing Partitive case

{{Short description|Grammatical case denoting "partialness", "without result" or "without specific identity"}}
{{for|the meaning represented by partitive case|partitive}}
The '''partitive case''' ([[list of glossing abbreviations|abbreviated]] {{sc|'''ptv'''}}, {{sc|'''prtv'''}}, or more ambiguously {{sc|'''part'''}}) is a [[grammatical case]] which denotes "partialness", "without result", or "without specific identity". It is also used in contexts where a subgroup is selected from a larger group, or with numbers.

== Finnic languages ==

In [[Finnic languages]], such as [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Estonian language|Estonian]], this case is often used to express unknown identities and [[Telicity#Telicity as an aspect|irresultative]] actions. For example, in Finnish, it is found in the following circumstances, with the characteristic ending of ''-a'' or ''-ta'':

* After numbers, in singular: "kolme talo'''a'''" → "three                                            houses" (cf. plural, where both are used, e.g. ''sadat kirjat'' "the hundreds of books", ''sata kirjaa'' "hundred books" as an irresultative object.)
* For [[Telicity|atelic]] actions (possibly incomplete) and ongoing processes: "luen kirja'''a'''" → "I'm reading a book"
** Compare with [[Telicity|telic]] actions in accusative case: "luen kirja'''n'''" → "I will read the (entire) book"
* With atelic verbs, particularly those indicating emotions: "rakastan tä'''tä''' talo'''a'''" → "I love this house"
* For tentative inquiries: "saanko lainata kirja'''a'''?" → "can I borrow the book?"
* For uncountables: "lasissa on maito'''a'''" → "there is (some) milk in the glass"
* Compositions: "pala juusto'''a'''" → "a piece of cheese"
* In places where English would use "some" or "any": "onko teillä kirjo'''ja'''?" → "do you have any books?"
** Compare with nominative case: "onko teillä kirj'''at'''?" → "do you have the (specific) books?"
* For negative statements: "talossa ei ole kirja'''a'''" → "in the house, [there] is not [a] book"
* Comparisons
** Without "kuin" ("than"): "saami'''sta''' parempa'''a''' on antaminen" → "what is better than receiving is giving"
** The more common form "antaminen on parempaa kuin saaminen" "giving is better than receiving" places only the comparative adverb in the partitive.

Where not mentioned, the accusative case would be ungrammatical. For example, the partitive must always be used after singular numerals.

As an example of the irresultative meaning of the partitive, ''ammuin karhun'' ([[accusative case|accusative]]) means "I shot the bear (dead)", whereas ''ammuin karhua'' (partitive) means "I shot (at) the bear" without specifying if it was even hit. Notice that Finnish has no native [[future tense]], so that the partitive provides an important reference to the present as opposed to the future. Thus ''luen kirjaa'' means "I am reading a/the book" whereas ''luen kirjan'' means "I will read a/the book". Thus "luen" can mean "I read", "I am reading" or "I will read" depending on the case form of the word that follows.  The partitive form ''kirjaa'' indicates incompleted action and hence the meaning of the verb form is present tense.  The accusative form ''kirjan'' indicates completed action when used with the past tense verb but indicates planned future action when used with a verb in the present tense. Hence ''luen kirjan'' means "I will read the book".
 
The case with an unspecified identity is ''onko teillä kirjoja'', which uses the partitive, because it refers to unspecified books, as contrasted to [[Nominative case|nominative]] ''onko teillä (ne) kirjat?'', which means "do you have (those) books?"

The partitive case comes from the older [[ablative case]]. This meaning is preserved e.g. in ''kotoa'' (from home), ''takaa'' (from behind), where it means "from".

A Western Finnish dialectal phenomenon seen in some dialects is the assimilation of the final ''-a'' into a preceding vowel, thus making the [[chroneme]] the partitive marker. For example, ''suurii'' → ''suuria'' "some big --".

In Estonian, the system is generally similar. In Estonian grammatical tradition, the term "accusative" is not used, since like in Finnish, the total object form coincides with the genitive in the singular, and the nominative in the plural.

In many Estonian words, the difference between the full and partial object cases is only in vowel or consonant quantity (long vs overlong), which is not marked in writing, except for stop consonants. Thus, the distinction between a total and partial object may be apparent in speech but not in writing. For example, the sentence ''Linn ehitab kooli'' would mean "The city will build a/the school" when pronounced with a long vowel "o" in ''kooli'' "school (genitive case)", and "The city is building a/the school" with an overlong "o" (partitive case).

For many verbs in Estonian, an additional adverb is almost always added when a completed action is meant - for example, ''ma söön leiba'' "I'm eating bread", vs ''ma söön leiva '''ära''''' "I will eat the (whole) bread". Since Estonian, unlike Finnish, has words where the genitive and partitive singular are identical even in pronunciation, this can provide disambiguation in those cases - e.g ''ma söön kala'' "I'm eating fish", vs ''ma söön kala ära'' "I will eat (all of) the fish".

== Sámi ==

Of the [[Sami languages|Sámi languages]], [[Inari Sámi language|Inari]] and [[Skolt Sami language|Skolt Sámi]] still have a partitive, although it is slowly disappearing and its function is being taken over by other cases.

===Skolt Sámi===

The [[partitive]] is used only in the [[Grammatical number|singular]] and can always be replaced by the genitive. The partitive marker is ''-d''.

# It appears after numbers larger than 6:
#: ''kääuʹc čâustõkkâd'': eight lassos
#: This can be replaced with ''kääʹuc čâustõõǥǥ''.
# It is also used with certain [[postpositions]]:
#: ''kuäʹtted vuâstta'': against a ''kota''
#: This can be replaced with ''kuäʹđ vuâstta''.
# It can be used with the [[comparative]] to express that which is being compared:
#: ''Kåʹlled pueʹrab'' : better than gold
#: This would nowadays more than likely be replaced by ''pueʹrab ko kåʹll''

== Dutch ==
In Dutch there are many [[adjective]]s ending in ''-s'', which is called the partitive case. This case is derived from the [[genitive case]] in the older [[Declension|declension system]] and is used after words that signify quantity, such as the Dutch ''veel'', ''weinig'' or ''niets'' (respectively meaning many/much/a lot, few/little or nothing):

: ''Dat is niets nieuw'''s'''.'' 
: That's nothing new.
:
: ''Men verwacht er veel goed'''s''' van.'' 
: People expect a lot from it.
:

The partitive case can also be used as a [[comparative]]:

: ''Heb je niets beter'''s'''?'' 
: Don't you have anything better?
:

If an adjective already ends in an alveolar [[fricative]] (like '''s''' in "suit"), the "-s" drops:

: ''Geef mij maar iets fri'''s'''.'' 
: Give me something fresh.
:
: ''Dat is iets fantasti'''sch'''!'' 
: That is something fantastic!

==Russian==

The [[Russian language]] usually uses the [[genitive case]] to express partialness. However, some Russian [[mass noun]]s have developed a distinct partitive case, also referred to as the "second genitive case". The partitive arose from the merger of the declensions of ''*-ŏ'' and ''*-ŭ'' stem nouns in [[Old East Slavic]], which left the former ''*-ŭ'' stem genitive suffix available for a specialized use.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ivanov|first1=V. V.|script-title=ru:Историческая грамматика русского языка|title=Istoricheskaya grammatika russkogo yazyka|date=1990|publisher=Prosveshcheniye|location=Moscow|isbn=5-09-000910-4|page=256|edition=3rd|language=ru}}</ref>

In modern Russian, use of the partitive case is often facultative. In many situations, the partitive and the genitive can be used almost synonymously: {{lang|ru|чашка ча'''ю'''}}, ''{{Transliteration|ru|cháshka chá'''yu'''}}'' (partitive) and {{lang|ru|чашка ча'''я'''}} ''{{Transliteration|ru|cháshka chá'''ya'''}}'' (genitive) both mean "a cup of tea"; {{lang|ru|много дым'''у'''}}, ''{{Transliteration|ru|mnógo dým'''u'''}}'' (partitive) and {{lang|ru|много дым'''а'''}} ''{{Transliteration|ru|mnógo dým'''a'''}}'' (genitive) both mean "lots of smoke". The partitive variant is preferred with verbs: {{lang|ru|выпить ча'''ю'''}}, ''{{Transliteration|ru|výpit' chá'''yu'''}}'', "to have a drink of tea". The genitive variant is used more frequently when the mass noun is modified by an adjective: {{lang|ru|чашка горячего ча'''я'''}} ''{{Transliteration|ru|cháshka goryáchevo chá'''ya'''}}'', "a cup of hot tea".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rozental|first1=D. E.|script-title=ru:Говорите и пишите по-русски правильно|title=Govoritye i pishitye po-russki pravil'no|date=2007|publisher=Airis Press|location=Moscow|isbn=978-5-8112-2447-0|page=29|language=ru}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last= Karlsson |first= Fred |year= 2018 |title= Finnish - A Comprehensive Grammar |location= London and New York |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-1-138-82104-0}}
* {{cite web |last= Anhava |first= Jaakko |year= 2015 |title= Criteria For Case Forms in Finnish and Hungarian Grammars |location= Helsinki |website= journal.fi |publisher= Finnish Scholarly Journals Online |url= https://journal.fi/store/article/view/52392/16242}}

==External links==
*  [http://finland.fi/public/default.aspx?contentid=160057&contentlan=2&culture=en-US is Finnish a difficult language, thisisFINLAND.fi]
*  [https://finnishteacher.com/finnish-for-beginners/partitive/ How to form partitive in Finnish, Finnishteacher.com]
* [http://www.uta.fi/~km56049/finnish/partrek.html Kimberli Mäkäräinen] Words that require the use of the partitive in Finnish
* [[wikt:ru:Категория:Русские существительные с разделительным падежом|List of Russian nouns with a distinct partitive case]] in the Russian Wiktionary

{{Grammatical cases}}

[[Category:Grammatical cases]]
[[Category:Grammatical number]]