Plural demonstratives in local cases (näissä, niissä)

Plural Demonstrative Stems

To say "in these baskets", "from those piles", or "into those boxes", you need to put plural demonstrative pronouns into local cases. Just like nouns, demonstrative pronouns have special stems when you add case endings.

• nämä (these) becomes the stem näi-
• nuo (those) becomes the stem noi-
• ne (those / they) becomes the stem nii-

Here is how they look with the inner local case endings:

Remember that in Finnish, the demonstrative pronoun and the noun it modifies must always match. Both words take the plural marker (-i-) and the exact same case ending.

Using "Näi-" (These)

To talk about groups of items close to you, attach the local case endings to the stem näi-.

Using "Noi-" (Those)

For things further away that you can physically point to, use the stem noi-. Notice how the pronoun and the noun perfectly mirror each other's endings.

Using "Nii-" (Those / Them)

For things out of sight or already mentioned in the conversation, the pronoun ne uses the stem nii-.

When replacing a noun entirely (for example, saying "into them" instead of "into the boxes"), you just inflect the pronoun alone.

Outer Local Cases

This exact same pattern applies to the outer local cases (meaning "on", "from", or "to" a surface or person). Just add the correct ending, like -lla/llä, -lta/ltä, or -lle, to the plural stems.