To ask who owns something, Finnish uses the interrogative pronoun kenen (whose).
Kenen is the genitive (possessive) form of kuka (who). Just like in English, place it directly before the noun you are asking about:
| Whose will are we reading today? | Kenen testamenttia luemme tänään? |
| Whose safe is in the cellar? | Kenen kassakaappi on kellarissa? |
| Whose brooch might this be? | Kenen rintaneula tämä mahtaa olla? |
It works for physical belongings and personal relationships alike:
| Whose nephew inherits the property? | Kenen veljenpoika perii omaisuuden? |
Answering with the Genitive
To answer a kenen question, use the genitive case, formed by adding -n to the end of the owner's name or title.
Notice how vainaja (the deceased) becomes vainajan (the deceased's) to show ownership:
| The deceased's property is large. | Vainajan omaisuus on suuri. |
You can also combine kenen with pronouns like tuo (that) or nuo (those) to ask about specific people or objects:
| Whose nephew is that? | Kenen veljenpoika tuo on? |
| Those are the deceased's shoes. | Nuo ovat vainajan kengät. |
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