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Questions & Answers about Hänellä on kysymys.
Why is the sentence expressed as Hänellä on kysymys instead of Hänellä kysymys?
In Finnish, you need the verb on (meaning is or has) to express ownership or possession. Think of it like saying At him/her, there is a question.
How does the grammatical structure work for possession here?
Hänellä means at/on him/her, and on is the verb for is/are/has. So literally, it’s At him/her is a question. It’s a standard way to show that someone has something in Finnish.
Why do we use Hänellä instead of Häntä?
Hänellä is in the adessive case, which indicates on or at someone. Häntä would be the partitive case, which is used for different grammatical contexts (like partial objects or ongoing actions). For possession, we use the adessive.
Is the word kysymys always singular here?
In this example, yes. If you wanted to say He/She has questions in plural, it would be Hänellä on kysymyksiä (using the partitive plural form of kysymys).
Could on be conjugated to match Hänellä?
In possession constructions, on does not change according to the person. The form remains on regardless of whether the subject is minulla, sinulla, hänellä, and so on.
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