In therapy or deep conversations, expressing how you perceive your own identity or state of mind is essential. In Finnish, you use the verb tuntea (to feel) followed by a reflexive pronoun.
| to feel (experience a sensation or emotion) | tuntea |
Feeling Like Yourself
You literally say "I feel myself..." or "She feels herself...". The base word for "self" is itse. To show who the "self" belongs to, attach a possessive suffix:
| Person | Reflexive Pronoun |
|---|
| Minä | itseni (myself) |
| Sinä | itsesi (yourself) |
| Hän | itsensä (himself/herself) |
| Me | itsemme (ourselves) |
| Te | itsenne (yourselves) |
| He | itsensä (themselves) |
The Translative and Essive Cases
To describe your state, the adjective usually takes the translative case (ending in -ksi).
Alternatively, use the essive case (ending in -na or -nä) to express perceiving yourself "as" something.
Plural Subjects
If the subject is plural (we, you all, they), the adjective must agree. In the translative case, the plural marker -i- is inserted before the ending, making it -iksi.
Negative Sentences
When you do not feel a certain way, the standard Finnish rule for negative objects applies: the object must be in the partitive case.
The partitive form of itse is itseä-, so attach the possessive suffix to that stem. For example, "myself" as a negative object becomes itseäni.
