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Finnish

### 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*

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### 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):

- *isoäitiä* + *-än* = *isoäitiään*
- *sukulaista* + *-an* = *sukulaistaan*

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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:

- *tädillä* + *-än* = *tädillään*
- *sedälle* + *-en* = *sedälleen*

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### 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.

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Third-person possessives (-nsa/-nsä or -Vn)

adjective

adposition

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

postposition

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstrative pronouns (tämä, tuo, se)

Singular personal pronouns (minä, sinä, hän)

Plural personal pronouns (me, te, he)

Plural demonstratives (nämä, nuo, ne)

Coordinating conjunctions (ja, mutta, tai)

Yes/no questions (-ko / -kö)

Basic question words (kuka, mikä, missä)

Negation of to be (en ole, ei ole)

The inessive case (-ssa / -ssä)

Double consonant gradation (kk, pp, tt)

Consonant gradation (-ssa/-ssä)

Verb Type 1 (puhun, puhut, puhuu)

Verb Type 1 with consonant gradation

Negative verbs (en puhu, et lue)

External location (-lla/-llä)

There is / there are (kaupungissa on)

Possession (minulla on)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yksi, kaksi, kolme)

The partitive singular (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Quantities with numbers (kaksi autoa)

Negative possession (ei ole)

Numbers 11 to 100 and 1000

Partitive verbs

Partitive personal pronouns (minua, sinua)

Verb Type 2 (-da/-dä)

Partitive for mass nouns (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Partitive for negative objects

Adjective agreement

Verb Type 3

The elative case (-sta/-stä)

Negative possession (minulla ei ole…)

The illative case (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Numbers 21 to 99

Static vs. movement verbs

Verb Type 4 (-Vta / -Vtä)

Verb Type 5 (-ita / -itä)

Genitive singular for possession (-n)

Total object (-n)

Accusative personal pronouns (-t)

Obligation (täytyy)

Into places (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Postpositions with the genitive

My and your (-ni, -si)

Onto and to someone (-lle)

From someone or somewhere (-lta, -ltä)

Telling time (kello on...)

Months of the year (-ssa, -ssä)

Days of the week (-na, -nä)

When and why (milloin, miksi)

The illative case (mihin, -Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Past tense of to be (olin, olit, oli)

The seasons (kevät, kesä, syksy, talvi)

The imperative mood (lue!, syö!, mene!)

The past tense of to be (olin, oli)

The illative case (-hVn, -seen)

Greetings and goodbyes (hei, näkemiin)

Thank you and sorry (kiitos, anteeksi)

Liking things (pitää / tykätä + -sta/-stä)

Temporary states and roles (-na/-nä)

Change of state (-ksi)

Ongoing actions (-massa/-mässä)

Going to do an action (-maan/-mään)

Returning from an action (-masta/-mästä)

Plural possessives (-mme, -nne)

Indefinite pronouns (joku, jokin, kaikki)

Negative indefinite pronouns (ei kukaan, ei mikään)

Commands for verb types 4 and 5

Adverb formation (-sti)

Past tense for verb type 1 (-i-)

Past tense vowel changes for verb type 1 (-o- / -i-)

Past tense for verb type 2 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 3 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 4 (-si-)

Past tense for verb type 5 (-itsi-)

Past tense consonant gradation

Past participles for verb types 1 and 2 (-nut / -nyt)

Past participle singular for verb types 3-5 (-nnut, -llut)

Active past participle plural (-neet)

Past tense negative (en mennyt, emme olleet)

The perfect tense (olen ollut)

The perfect tense negative (en ole nähnyt)

Total plural objects (-t)

Partitive plural (-ia / -iä)

Partitive plural (-ja / -jä)

Partitive plural (-ita / -itä)

Question	Answer
their	heidän
I know their family.	Minä tunnen heidän perheensä.
Where does their bus go?	Mihin heidän bussinsa menee?
grandmother	isoäiti
His grandmother lives alone.	Hänen isoäitinsä asuu yksin.
I am helping his grandmother.	Minä autan hänen isoäitiään.
grandfather	isoisä
Her grandfather is reading a book.	Hänen isoisänsä lukee kirjaa.
From whom is his grandfather asking for help?	Keneltä hänen isoisänsä kysyy apua?
mother-in-law	anoppi
Their mother-in-law is at home.	Heidän anoppinsa on kotona.
Why does their mother-in-law live here?	Miksi heidän anoppinsa asuu täällä?
aunt	täti
Where does his aunt live?	Missä hänen tätinsä asuu?
His aunt has a big car.	Hänen tädillään on iso auto.
uncle (paternal)	setä
Their uncle is a teacher.	Heidän setänsä on opettaja.
I am calling their uncle.	Minä soitan heidän sedälleen.
uncle (maternal)	eno
Why is his uncle leaving?	Miksi hänen enonsa lähtee?
His uncle has a new dog.	Hänen enollaan on uusi koira.
cousin	serkku
Where is her cousin traveling to?	Mihin hänen serkkunsa matkustaa?
I am buying coffee for their cousin.	Minä ostan kahvia heidän serkulleen.
relative	sukulainen
That man is his relative.	Tuo mies on hänen sukulaisensa.
Who is helping their relative?	Kuka auttaa heidän sukulaistaan?
grandchild	lapsenlapsi
Her grandchild is young.	Hänen lapsenlapsensa on nuori.
I love her grandchild.	Minä rakastan hänen lapsenlastaan.
sister (formal)	sisar
My sister lives in Espoo.	Minun sisareni asuu Espoossa.
His sister is a teacher.	Hänen sisarensa on opettaja.
daughter	tytär
Their daughter is young.	Heidän tyttärensä on nuori.
My daughter studies Finnish.	Minun tyttäreni opiskelee suomea.
parents	vanhemmat
My parents live in Porvoo.	Minun vanhempani asuvat Porvoossa.
The parents are at home.	Vanhemmat ovat kotona.
dad (affectionate)	isi
Dad is in the kitchen.	Isi on keittiössä.
Where is dad?	Missä isi on?

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