Editing Uralic languages (section)

===Grammar===
* extensive use of independent [[suffix]]es ([[agglutination]])
* a large set of [[grammatical case]]s marked with agglutinative suffixes (13–14 cases on average; mainly later developments: Proto-Uralic is reconstructed with 6 cases), e.g.:
** Erzya: 12 cases
** Estonian: 14 cases (15 cases with instructive)
** Finnish: 15 cases
** Hungarian: 18 cases (together 34 grammatical cases and case-like suffixes)
** Inari Sámi: 9 cases
** Komi: in certain dialects as many as 27 cases
** Moksha: 13 cases
** Nenets: 7 cases
** Northern Sámi: 6 cases
** Udmurt: 16 cases
** Veps: 24 cases
** Northern Mansi: 6 cases
** Eastern Mansi: 8 cases
* unique Uralic case system, from which all modern Uralic languages derive their case systems.
** nominative singular has no case suffix.
** accusative (Proto-Uralic ''*-m'') and genitive (''*-n'') suffixes are [[nasal consonant]]s. Many languages have merged the two. 
** three-way distinction in the local case system, with each set of local cases being divided into forms corresponding roughly to "from", "to", and "in/at"; especially evident, e.g. in Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian, which have several sets of local cases, such as the "inner", "outer" and "on top" systems in Hungarian, while in Finnish the "on top" forms have merged to the "outer" forms.
** the Uralic locative suffix exists in all Uralic languages in various cases, e.g. Hungarian [[superessive case|superessive]], Finnish [[essive case|essive]] (''-na''), Northern Sámi [[essive case|essive]], Erzyan [[inessive case|inessive]], and Nenets [[locative case|locative]].
** the Uralic [[lative case|lative]] suffix exists in various cases in many Uralic languages, e.g. Hungarian [[illative case|illative]], Finnish [[lative case|lative]] (''-s'' as in ''ulos'' 'out' and ''rannemmas'' 'more towards the shore'), Erzyan [[illative case|illative]], Komi [[approximative case|approximative]], and Northern Sámi [[locative case|locative]].
* a lack of [[grammatical gender]], including one pronoun for both ''he'' and ''she''; for example, ''hän'' in Finnish, ''tämä'' in Votic, ''tämā'' or ''ta'' (short form for tämā) in Livonian,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://virtuallivonia.info/?page_id=134|title=Livonian pronouns|date=8 February 2020|website=Virtual Livonia}}</ref> ''tema'' or ''ta'' (short form for tema) in Estonian, ''сійӧ'' ({{IPA|[sijɘ]}}) in Komi, ''ő'' in Hungarian.
* [[negative verb]], which exists in many Uralic languages (notably absent in Hungarian)
* use of postpositions as opposed to prepositions (prepositions are uncommon).
* [[possessive suffix]]es
** the [[Genitive case|genitive]] is also used to express possession in some languages, e.g. [[Estonian language|Estonian]] ''mu koer'', [[Spoken Finnish|colloquial Finnish]] ''mun koira'', [[Northern Sámi]] ''mu beana'' 'my dog' (literally 'dog of me'). Separate [[possessive adjective]]s and [[possessive pronoun]]s, such as ''my'' and ''your'', are rare.
* [[dual (grammatical number)|dual]], in the Samoyedic, Ob-Ugric and Sámi languages and reconstructed for Proto-Uralic
* [[plural]] markers -j (i) and -t (-d, -q) have a common origin (e.g. in Finnish, Estonian, Võro, Erzya, Sámi languages, Samoyedic languages). Hungarian, however, has -i- before the possessive suffixes and -k elsewhere. The plural marker -k is also used in the Sámi languages, but there is a regular merging of final -k and -t in Sámi, so it can come from either ending.
* Possessions are expressed by a possessor in the adessive or dative case, the verb "be" (the [[copula (linguistics)|copula]], instead of the verb "have") and the possessed with or without a possessive suffix. The grammatical subject of the sentence is thus the possessed. In Finnish, for example, the possessor is in the [[adessive case]]: "Minulla on kala", literally "At me is fish", i.e. "I have a fish", whereas in Hungarian, the possessor is in the [[dative case]], but appears overtly only if it is contrastive, while the possessed has a possessive ending indicating the number and person of the possessor: "(Nekem) van egy halam", literally "(To me [dative]) is a fish-my" ("(For me) there is a fish of mine"), i.e. "(As for me,) I have a fish".
* expressions that include a [[Numeral (linguistics)|numeral]] are singular if they refer to things which form a single group, e.g. "négy csomó" in Hungarian, "njeallje čuolmma" in Northern Sámi, "neli sõlme" in Estonian, and "neljä solmua" in Finnish, each of which means "four knots", but the literal approximation is "four knot". (This approximation is accurate only for Hungarian among these examples, as in Northern Sámi the noun is in the singular [[accusative]]/[[genitive]] case and in Finnish and Estonian the singular noun is in the [[partitive]] case, such that the number points to a part of a larger mass, like "four of knot(s)".)