Breakdown of Hänen lapsenlapsensa on nuori.
olla
to be
nuori
young
hänen
his, her, hers
lapsenlapsi
grandchild
Questions & Answers about Hänen lapsenlapsensa on nuori.
Why do we need both Hänen and the -nsa ending on lapsenlapsensa?
In standard Finnish, when you talk about the third person (his, her, or their), you must use both the genitive pronoun (hänen or heidän) and the possessive suffix on the noun. You cannot drop the pronoun like you often can with my (minun) or your (sinun).
Why is the ending -nsa instead of -nsä when Hänen has front vowels?
Vowel harmony is determined by the noun the suffix attaches to, not the pronoun before it. The word lapsenlapsi contains the back vowel a, so it must take the back-vowel suffix -nsa. The front vowels in Hänen do not affect it.
How is the word lapsenlapsi put together?
It is a compound word made of lapsen (child's) and lapsi (child). Literally meaning a child's child, it translates to grandchild. The first part is in the genitive case, which is a very common way to build compound words in Finnish.
I know the word for child is lapsi. Why is it spelled lapse- before the ending in lapsenlapsensa?
Many older Finnish words ending in -i change their final letter to an -e- before endings are added. The basic word is lapsi, but its stem for adding suffixes is lapse-. Therefore, the ending -nsa attaches to the stem, giving us lapsenlapsensa.