Questions & Answers about Missä hänen tätinsä asuu?
Why do we need both hänen and the suffix -nsä on täti?
In standard Finnish, when talking about a third person possessor (like his, her, or their), you must use both the genitive pronoun (hänen or heidän) and the possessive suffix on the noun. You cannot just say hänen täti in standard written Finnish; it has to be hänen tätinsä.
Why is the suffix -nsä instead of -nsa?
This is due to vowel harmony. The word täti contains the front vowel ä. Because of this, the suffix must also use front vowels, making it -nsä. If the word had back vowels like a, o, or u (for example, koira), it would take -nsa and become hänen koiransa.
The lesson mentioned another third-person suffix, -Vn (doubling the vowel + n). Could we use that here instead?
No, not in this sentence. The -Vn suffix is only an option when the noun is in certain grammatical cases, such as the partitive or illative. Because täti is the subject of this sentence and is in the basic nominative case, you have to use the -nsa or -nsä ending.
How do we know if hänen tätinsä means his aunt or her aunt?
You can only tell from context! Finnish pronouns are completely gender-neutral. The pronoun hän means both he and she, so hänen tätinsä translates to his aunt or her aunt equally.
Would a Finnish person actually say hänen tätinsä in everyday conversation?
Usually not. In casual spoken Finnish, people tend to drop the possessive suffix entirely and use the spoken pronoun se (it) instead of hän. You would most likely hear a Finn simply ask: Missä sen täti asuu?
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