Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Finnish

### The Negative Additive Clitic -kaan / -kään

Just as you use the clitic **-kin** for "also" or "too" in affirmative sentences, Finnish uses a different clitic for negative sentences: **-kaan** or **-kään**. It translates to "either" or "neither".

Like other suffixes, it follows vowel harmony rules. Use **-kaan** for words with back vowels (a, o, u) and **-kään** for words with front vowels (ä, ö, y) or only neutral vowels (e, i). 

Because it expresses a negative addition, the sentence must always include a negative verb (**en**, **et**, **ei**, **emme**, **ette**, **eivät**). Attach the clitic to the end of the word you are emphasizing.

{{item:907665}}

{{item:907667}}

### Using -kaan / -kään with Case Endings

The clitic always goes at the very end of the word. If the word has a case ending, such as in the "I have" structure (**minulla on**), the clitic attaches after the ending to become **minullakaan**.

{{item:907682}}

{{item:907686}}

You can also attach it directly to demonstrative pronouns like **tämä** (this):

{{item:907675}}

### The Pronoun "Kumpikaan"

To specifically say "neither one" when referring to two things or people, use the pronoun **kumpikaan**. It already contains the **-kaan** suffix and pairs with the negative verb.

{{item:907673}}

{{item:907674}}

### Emphasizing Other Words

You can attach **-kaan / -kään** to almost any part of speech to show what else is *not* happening or true. For example, attaching it to a noun emphasizes that an expected state or feeling is also absent.

{{item:907684}}

Neither and not either (-kaan / -kään)

adjective

adposition

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

postposition

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstrative pronouns (tämä, tuo, se)

Singular personal pronouns (minä, sinä, hän)

Plural personal pronouns (me, te, he)

Plural demonstratives (nämä, nuo, ne)

Coordinating conjunctions (ja, mutta, tai)

Yes/no questions (-ko / -kö)

Basic question words (kuka, mikä, missä)

Negation of to be (en ole, ei ole)

The inessive case (-ssa / -ssä)

Double consonant gradation (kk, pp, tt)

Consonant gradation (-ssa/-ssä)

Verb Type 1 (puhun, puhut, puhuu)

Verb Type 1 with consonant gradation

Negative verbs (en puhu, et lue)

External location (-lla/-llä)

There is / there are (kaupungissa on)

Possession (minulla on)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yksi, kaksi, kolme)

The partitive singular (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Quantities with numbers (kaksi autoa)

Negative possession (ei ole)

Numbers 11 to 100 and 1000

Partitive verbs

Partitive personal pronouns (minua, sinua)

Verb Type 2 (-da/-dä)

Partitive for mass nouns (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Partitive for negative objects

Adjective agreement

Verb Type 3

The elative case (-sta/-stä)

Negative possession (minulla ei ole…)

The illative case (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Numbers 21 to 99

Static vs. movement verbs

Verb Type 4 (-Vta / -Vtä)

Verb Type 5 (-ita / -itä)

Genitive singular for possession (-n)

Total object (-n)

Accusative personal pronouns (-t)

Obligation (täytyy)

Into places (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Postpositions with the genitive

My and your (-ni, -si)

Onto and to someone (-lle)

From someone or somewhere (-lta, -ltä)

Telling time (kello on...)

Months of the year (-ssa, -ssä)

Days of the week (-na, -nä)

When and why (milloin, miksi)

The illative case (mihin, -Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Past tense of to be (olin, olit, oli)

The seasons (kevät, kesä, syksy, talvi)

The imperative mood (lue!, syö!, mene!)

The past tense of to be (olin, oli)

The illative case (-hVn, -seen)

Greetings and goodbyes (hei, näkemiin)

Thank you and sorry (kiitos, anteeksi)

Liking things (pitää / tykätä + -sta/-stä)

Temporary states and roles (-na/-nä)

Change of state (-ksi)

Ongoing actions (-massa/-mässä)

Going to do an action (-maan/-mään)

Returning from an action (-masta/-mästä)

Third-person possessives (-nsa/-nsä or -Vn)

Plural possessives (-mme, -nne)

Indefinite pronouns (joku, jokin, kaikki)

Negative indefinite pronouns (ei kukaan, ei mikään)

Commands for verb types 4 and 5

Adverb formation (-sti)

Past tense for verb type 1 (-i-)

Past tense vowel changes for verb type 1 (-o- / -i-)

Past tense for verb type 2 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 3 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 4 (-si-)

Past tense for verb type 5 (-itsi-)

Past tense consonant gradation

Past participles for verb types 1 and 2 (-nut / -nyt)

Past participle singular for verb types 3-5 (-nnut, -llut)

Active past participle plural (-neet)

Past tense negative (en mennyt, emme olleet)

The perfect tense (olen ollut)

The perfect tense negative (en ole nähnyt)

Total plural objects (-t)

Partitive plural (-ia / -iä)

Partitive plural (-ja / -jä)

Question	Answer
neither / not either (also -kään)	-kaan
I do not want to dance either.	Minäkään en halua tanssia.
to admit	myöntää
He did not admit the mistake either.	Hänkään ei myöntänyt virhettä.
energetic	pirteä
I am not energetic either.	Minäkään en ole pirteä.
neither one	kumpikaan
interested	kiinnostunut
to be interested in	olla kiinnostunut
hobby	harrastus
Neither one is interested in this hobby.	Kumpikaan ei ole kiinnostunut tästä harrastuksesta.
Neither one admitted the mistake.	Kumpikaan ei myöntänyt virhettä.
This hobby is not cheap either.	Tämäkään harrastus ei ole halpa.
spicy	tulinen
spice	mauste
We do not use hot spices either.	Mekään emme käytä tulisia mausteita.
enough	tarpeeksi
I did not drink enough either.	Minäkään en juonut tarpeeksi.
He did not sleep enough either, but he is not tired.	Hänkään ei nukkunut tarpeeksi, mutta hän ei ole väsynyt.
I do not have enough spices either.	Minullakaan ei ole tarpeeksi mausteita.
thirst	jano
I am not energetic, but I am not thirsty either.	En ole pirteä, mutta minulla ei ole janokaan.
I am not interested in spicy food either.	Minäkään en ole kiinnostunut tulisesta ruoasta.
You are not thirsty either.	Sinullakaan ei ole jano.
thirsty	janoinen
I am thirsty.	Minä olen janoinen.
The child is not thirsty either.	Lapsikaan ei ole janoinen.
to be enough, to suffice	riittää
This is not enough.	Tämä ei riitä.
One spice is enough.	Yksi mauste riittää.

Contributors