Postpositions of substitution (puolesta, sijasta)

Substituting: "sijasta"

When you want to say you are doing a task or taking a role "instead of" someone else, use the postposition sijasta. Because it is a postposition, it comes after the noun it modifies.

Postpositions of substitution require the noun to be in the genitive case, which means the noun will end in -n.

• kollega (colleague) -> kollegan sijasta (instead of the colleague)
• johtaja (manager) -> johtajan sijasta (instead of the manager)

Representing: "puolesta"

When you are acting "on behalf of" or "for" someone, use the postposition puolesta. Just like sijasta, it requires the preceding noun to be in the genitive case.

• pomo (boss) -> pomon puolesta (on behalf of the boss)
• varahenkilö (deputy) -> varahenkilön puolesta (on behalf of the deputy)

Adjectives and Pronouns

If the person you are replacing or representing is described by an adjective, that adjective must also take the genitive -n ending to match the noun.

• sairas kollega (sick colleague) -> sairaan kollegan sijasta (instead of the sick colleague)
• poissaoleva voittaja (absent winner) -> poissaolevan voittajan puolesta (on behalf of the absent winner)

Personal pronouns also take the genitive case before these postpositions. In colloquial, spoken Finnish, you will often hear shortened pronoun forms, such as sun (your / genitive of sä) instead of the standard sinun.