Talking About Other People: se and ne
In standard written Finnish, you use hän (he/she) and he (they) for people, while se (it) and ne (those) are reserved for animals and things.
In everyday spoken Finnish (puhekieli), this distinction vanishes. Finnish speakers almost exclusively use se and ne for people.
| Written | Spoken | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hän | se | he / she |
| he | ne | they |
| He is my new roommate. | Se on mun uusi kämppis. |
| Is he still single? | Onko se vielä sinkku? |
The Plural "ne" Takes a Singular Verb
When you use ne ("they") in spoken Finnish, the verb is always singular. It uses exactly the same third-person form as se.
| Written | Spoken | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| he ovat | ne on | they are |
| he tulevat | ne tulee | they come |
| he erosivat | ne erosi | they broke up |
Notice how the plural endings are dropped completely.
| They are married. | Ne on naimisissa. |
| They are dating now. | Ne tapailee nyt. |
| They broke up yesterday. | Ne erosi eilen. |
At and To Someone's Place
To talk about being at or going to someone's place, use the postpositions luona (at a location) and luokse (movement towards).
These always come directly after a genitive (possessive) pronoun, like mun (my) or sun (your).
| They are at my place today. | Ne on mun luona tänään. |
| They are coming to my place tomorrow. | Ne tulee mun luokse huomenna. |
Introducing People
You can put it all together using verbs like esitellä (to introduce) and adjectives like söpö (cute) to describe the people (se or ne) in your life.
| He is introducing the new roommate. | Se esittelee uuden kämppiksen. |
| He is really cute. | Se on tosi söpö. |
