Questions & Answers about Selkäsi on vahva.
How do we say "your" in this sentence?
Instead of using a separate word for "your", Finnish uses the possessive suffix -si attached directly to the end of the noun selkä (back). This gives us selkäsi (your back).
Could I also say sinun selkäsi?
Yes, you can! Adding the pronoun sinun (your) before the noun is grammatically correct. However, in standard written Finnish, words like minun and sinun are very often dropped because the suffixes -ni and -si already tell us exactly whose back it is.
Does adding the -si suffix change the base word selkä at all?
Not in this case. The suffix -si is added directly to the basic dictionary form of the word. You don't have to worry about the k changing or disappearing here; you just glue -si right to the end.
Why doesn't the adjective vahva (strong) get a -si suffix to match?
Possessive suffixes like -si indicate ownership, so they are only attached to nouns. Adjectives describe the noun but do not take ownership endings, so vahva just stays in its basic form.
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