The Negative Dual Pronoun
When you want to say that "neither" of two options is correct, chosen, or desired, Finnish uses the negative verb paired with the pronoun kumpikaan. This is the negative counterpart to kumpikin (both) and jompikumpi (either).
Because kumpikaan is a negative pronoun, it must always be accompanied by a negative verb (en, et, ei, etc.). Depending on the sentence structure, the pronoun can appear before or after the negative verb.
| We went on a blind date, but neither spoke at all. | Me mentiin sokkotreffeille, mut kumpikaan ei puhunu mitään. |
Declining "kumpikaan"
Just like with kumpikin, the base word kumpi declines to match the case of the noun it modifies, and the suffix is added at the very end. Because it appears in negative sentences, the suffix is -kaan (or -kään depending on vowel harmony).
Because negative sentences usually require their objects to be in the partitive case, you will frequently use the partitive form: kumpaa + -kaan = kumpaakaan.
| I didn't choose either profile on this app. | En valinnut kumpaakaan profiilia tässä sovelluksessa. |
Local Cases
When expressing concepts like "in neither" or "to neither", the base kumpi takes the appropriate local case ending before adding -kaan. The internal consonants weaken from a strong mp to a weak mm when these endings are added.
For the inessive case ("in"), the base becomes kummassa, forming kummassakaan.
| Neither profile had a photo. | Kummassakaan profiilissa ei ollut kuvaa. |
For the allative case ("to"), the base becomes kummalle, forming kummallekaan.
| I didn't give a number to either. | Minä en antanut numeroa kummallekaan. |