Quantifying pronouns tell you how much of a set you mean — all of it, each member, both, many, few. The recurring puzzle for English speakers is number agreement: some of these words are grammatically plural and pull a plural verb, while others are grammatically singular even though they cover a whole group. The deep reason is individuation: a quantifier that treats the set as one lump goes plural (kaikki tulevat, "all come"), and a quantifier that walks through the members one by one goes singular (jokainen tulee, "each comes"). Get that intuition and the agreement follows.
kaikki — all, everyone, everything (plural)
kaikki means "all." When it stands for people ("everyone / all of them") it takes plural agreement: the verb is plural, adjectives are plural.
Kaikki olivat jo lähteneet, kun saavuin.
Everyone had already left when I arrived.
Kaikki lapset saivat jäätelön.
All the children got ice cream.
kaikki also inflects. For "everything" as a mass it uses the singular forms kaiken (genitive) and kaikkea (partitive); for "everyone/all" it uses plural cases kaikkien, kaikkia, kaikille, kaikissa.
Hän söi kaiken, mitä lautasella oli.
He ate everything that was on the plate.
Kiitos kaikille, jotka auttoivat.
Thanks to everyone who helped.
jokainen — each, every (strictly singular)
jokainen means "each / every / everyone," and it is relentlessly singular: singular noun, singular verb. It singles the members out and looks at them one at a time, which is exactly why the grammar stays singular even though real-world "everyone" is many people.
Jokainen oppilas sai oman kirjan.
Each pupil got their own book.
Jokainen tietää, että savu nousee ylöspäin.
Everyone knows that smoke rises.
Its cases are regular: jokaisen (genitive), jokaista (partitive), jokaiselle (allative). The contrast with kaikki is the pair worth memorising: kaikki groups (Kaikki tietävät — plural, "everybody, as a crowd, knows"), jokainen individuates (Jokainen tietää — singular, "each and every one knows"). English "everyone" hides this split; Finnish makes you choose.
molemmat vs kumpikin — the two "boths"
For "both," Finnish has two words that differ in number. molemmat is always plural and views the pair as a set: molemmat tulivat ("both came"). kumpikin is singular and walks through the two members individually, "each of the two": kumpikin tuli ("each one came"). It is built on kumpi ("which of two") plus -kin, and its first part declines: kummankin, kumpaakin, kummallekin.
Molemmat vanhemmat olivat töissä.
Both parents were at work.
Kummassakin kädessä oli kassi.
There was a bag in each hand.
Annoin kummallekin lapselle saman summan.
I gave each of the two children the same amount.
So molemmat kädet ("both hands," as a pair) and kumpikin käsi ("each of the two hands," one at a time) both exist — pick by whether you're grouping or itemising.
usea, moni, harva, muutama — many and few (singular counting)
usea ("many, several"), moni ("many a"), harva ("few"), and muutama ("a few") all count individuals, so in the counting sense they take a singular noun and singular verb — the mirror image of English, which puts "many" and "few" with plurals.
Usea matkustaja myöhästyi junasta.
Several passengers missed the train.
Harva tietää, kuinka vanha kirkko oikeasti on.
Few people know how old the church really is.
Muutama opiskelija jäi luennon jälkeen kysymään.
A few students stayed after the lecture to ask questions.
moni has the special partitive monta and its own set of pitfalls; the full story is on moni vs monta, and muutama gets its own walkthrough on indefinite pronouns. They all have plural forms too — useat, monet, harvat, muutamat — used when you picture the group as a bulk rather than as counted units.
sama and muu — same and other
sama ("same") and muu ("other, else") round out the everyday set. Both inflect like ordinary adjectives and agree with their noun. muu is the go-to word for "something else," "someone else," "everyone else."
Meillä on sama syntymäpäivä.
We have the same birthday.
Haluaisitko jotain muuta juotavaa?
Would you like something else to drink?
Kaikki muut olivat samaa mieltä.
Everyone else was of the same opinion.
Note kaikki muut ("everyone else"): kaikki stays plural and muut agrees with it in the plural. That agreement — quantifier and noun matching in case and number — is the same machinery described on adjective agreement and number agreement.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jokainen lapset saivat lahjan.
Incorrect — jokainen is strictly singular: singular noun (lapsi) and singular verb (sai).
✅ Jokainen lapsi sai lahjan.
Each child got a present.
❌ Kaikki tietää tämän.
Incorrect for 'everyone knows' — kaikki (people) takes a plural verb: tietävät.
✅ Kaikki tietävät tämän.
Everyone knows this.
❌ Molemmat lapsi tuli.
Incorrect — molemmat is plural: plural noun (lapset) and plural verb (tulivat).
✅ Molemmat lapset tulivat.
Both children came.
❌ Usea ihmiset olivat myöhässä.
Incorrect — in the counting sense usea takes a singular noun and verb: usea ihminen oli.
✅ Usea ihminen oli myöhässä.
Many a person was late.
❌ Annoin sen kumpikin.
Incorrect — 'to each of the two' needs the allative kummallekin; kumpikin also declines its first part.
✅ Annoin sen kummallekin.
I gave it to each of the two.
Key Takeaways
- Grouping quantifiers are plural — kaikki ("all"), molemmat ("both") take a plural noun and verb.
- Individuating quantifiers are singular — jokainen ("each"), kumpikin ("each of two"), and usea / moni / harva in their counting sense take a singular noun and verb.
- kaikki means "everything" with singular kaiken / kaikkea, and "everyone/all" with the plural cases kaikkien, kaikkia, kaikille.
- kumpikin declines its first half: kummankin, kumpaakin, kummallekin (the -kin stays fixed).
- sama ("same") and muu ("other/else") agree with their noun like ordinary adjectives — kaikki muut, jotain muuta.
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Start learning Finnish→Related Topics
- Indefinite Pronouns: joku, jokin, moniA2 — How Finnish points at an unspecified someone or something — joku vs jokin, plus eräs, muutama and moni, and the quirk that these pronouns inflect internally.
- How Numbers Agree with Their Nouns in CasesB1 — Predict the noun's form from the phrase's role — number + partitive singular as subject or total object, full agreement everywhere else; plus the singular verb rule.
- Adjective Agreement in Case and NumberA2 — The attributive adjective copies its head noun's case AND number — isossa talossa, pienten lasten, kauniita kukkia — with every stacked adjective agreeing too.
- moni vs monta, harva vs harvatB2 — Why 'many' splits into moni (singular agreement) and monta (partitive counting), and how harva and its plural harvat divide up 'few'.