Third-Person Possessives
To indicate that something belongs to "him", "her", or "them" in Finnish, use the genitive pronoun hänen (his/her) or heidän (their) followed by the noun with a possessive suffix. Unlike the first and second person ("my", "your"), these third-person pronouns are strictly required.
The Basic Suffix: -nsa / -nsä
For nouns in their basic (nominative) form, add -nsa or -nsä (based on vowel harmony).
- bussi → bussinsa
- isoäiti → isoäitinsä
- anoppi → anoppinsa
The Alternative Suffix: -Vn
When a noun is in a case ending in a short vowel (like the partitive, adessive, or allative), Finnish usually lengthens that final vowel and adds -n. This is known as the -Vn suffix.
For example, with the partitive case (used for ongoing actions or partial amounts):
This pattern also applies to location cases. When expressing "having" something (adessive case, -lla/-llä) or directing an action to someone (allative case, -lle), the case ending is followed by the -Vn suffix:
Extended Family Vocabulary
Finnish distinguishes different sides of the extended family. A paternal uncle (father's brother) is setä, while a maternal uncle (mother's brother) is eno. Notice how the possessive suffixes attach to these and other family words across different cases.
