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Questions & Answers about Naisen nimi on Anna.
Why is the word for woman naisen here instead of nainen?
Naisen is in the genitive case, which shows possession (like the English 's). For Finnish words ending in -nen, the stem changes to -se- before you add the genitive ending -n. So, nainen becomes naisen (the woman's).
Could I say this using the 'have' structure, like naisella on nimi Anna?
While naisella on... means 'the woman has...', saying naisella on nimi Anna sounds very unnatural. Just like in English, we usually say 'The woman's name is...' rather than 'The woman has a name Anna'. To do this in Finnish, you use the genitive case (naisen) followed by the thing she possesses (nimi).
Does the possessive word naisen always have to come before nimi?
Yes, when showing possession like this in Finnish, the word in the genitive case (the owner) almost always comes directly before the word that is owned. So it must be naisen nimi. Saying nimi naisen would sound completely wrong to a native speaker.