Question 1

How does the -kin ending work in hänkin?

Accepted Answer

The ending -kin means "also" or "too". In Finnish, instead of using a separate word for "also", you attach -kin directly to the word it emphasizes. Here, attaching it to hän creates hänkin, meaning "he also" (as in, someone else agrees, and he does too).

Question 2

Could I attach -kin to the verb instead, like hän onkin samaa mieltä?

Accepted Answer

You could, but it completely changes the meaning! The -kin particle highlights the exact word it is glued to. While hänkin on means "he also is" (adding another person to the group who agrees), saying hän onkin emphasizes the verb. It often expresses surprise, meaning something like "Actually, he does agree after all."

Question 3

Why is "agrees" translated as three words: on samaa mieltä?

Accepted Answer

Finnish doesn't have a common, single verb that simply means "to agree". Instead, you use the idiom olla samaa mieltä, which literally means "to be of the same mind" or "to be of the same opinion". Since hän (he) is the subject, the verb olla becomes on.

Question 4

Why do samaa and mieltä both have partitive case endings (-a and -tä)?

Accepted Answer

In the phrase olla samaa mieltä, both sama (same) and mieli (mind/opinion) are in the partitive case. Finnish often uses the partitive for abstract, uncountable concepts like thoughts or feelings. You can think of the partitive here as translating to "of the", making the literal translation "to be of the same mind".

Hänkin on samaa mieltä.

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