# Grammatical case of direct object



## rhitagawr

I’ve only just started learning Finnish, so don’t expect too much. In Teach Yourself Finnish chapter 5, section Matkatoimistossa Helsingissä, a tourist who wants to go to Russia asks _Mistä minä saan viisumin?_ The travel agent says _…teillä ei varmaan ole aikaa hankkia viisumia_ and …_on paras hankkia viisumi etukäteen_.
Viisumi is the direct object. I’d expect it to be in the genitive. Why is it in three cases? Thanks in advance for any replies.


----------



## altazure

In Finnish, a direct object can be either in the genitive or in the partitive.
The *genitive* object ("Mistä minä saan viisumin?")  is used when the action is considered "complete" or "finished" for  good, or it affects the whole object instead of just a part of  it.
The *partitive* object is used when the action is  not complete or is ongoing, or when it affects only a part of the  object. Negative sentences always use the partitive object as they are, by definition, not complete ("ei ole  aikaa hankkia viisumia").

With the infinitive form of a verb, a genitive object is changed into *nominative* ("on paras hankkia viisumi").

I'm sure that someone can give a better, more linguistic explanation, but I hope that this is helpful.


----------



## DrWatson

The Finnish direct object is indeed an intricate matter, and, in my experience, one of the most difficult things to grasp for a foreigner learning the language. A nice brief explanation on the variation of the case of the object in Finnish can be found here.


----------



## rhitagawr

Thank you, altazure and DrWatson. So _Lue kirjan! _means _Read the whole book! _and _Lue kirja!_ means something like _Read the book although not necessarily all of it!_? The website gives _Lue kirjan! _as an example but explains _Lue kirja!_ But I see it also says _Tuo kirja!_,which can only refer to the whole book.
Hats off to the Finns for remembering all of this.


----------



## Grumpy Old Man

rhitagawr said:


> Thank you, altazure and DrWatson. So _Lue kirjan! _means _Read the whole book! _and _Lue kirja!_ means something like _Read the book although not necessarily all of it!_? The website gives _Lue kirjan! _as an example but explains _Lue kirja!_ But I see it also says _Tuo kirja!_,which can only refer to the whole book.
> Hats off to the Finns for remembering all of this.


I hope you don't mind my butting in. _Lue kirja*n*!_ is ungrammatical.


----------



## Hakro

rhitagawr said:


> So _Lue kirjan! _means _Read the whole book! _and _Lue kirja!_ means something like _Read the book although not necessarily all of it!_? The website gives _Lue kirjan! _as an example but explains _Lue kirja!_ But I see it also says _Tuo kirja!_,which can only refer to the whole book.


Unfortunately there's a mistake on the website. _Lue kirj*an*!_ (imperative) is absolutely wrong. _Lue kirj*a*!_ means _Read the book (entirely)!_ and _Lue kirj*aa*!_ means _Read the book although not necessarily all of it!_


----------



## rhitagawr

Kiitoksia paljon, everyone. I think it's clearer now.


----------

