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Questions & Answers about Hänen kotinsa on siisti.
What does Hänen mean in this sentence?
Hänen is the genitive form of the pronoun hän (“he/she”). In Finnish you mark the possessor with a genitive pronoun, so hänen here means “his” or “her” (Finnish doesn’t distinguish gender).
Why do we also see the suffix -nsa on koti (i.e. kotinsa) when we already have hänen?
When a noun is possessed by a personal pronoun in Finnish, you use two markings:
- The pronoun in genitive (hänen).
- A possessive suffix on the noun (for 3rd person that’s -nsa/-nsä).
So hänen kotinsa literally is “his/her-GEN home-POSS,” i.e. “his/her home.”
Could I drop hänen and say kotinsa on siisti?
Yes—if the context already makes clear whose home you mean, you can rely on the suffix alone (kotinsa on siisti). But if you introduce the person for the first time, speakers usually include hänen for clarity.
Why isn’t it hänen koti on siisti (no suffix)?
Possession in Finnish is always shown by a suffix on the possessed noun. A bare noun plus genitive pronoun (hänen koti) would be ungrammatical. You need the possessive suffix: kotinsa.
What case is kotinsa in? Is it really nominative?
Yes. The subject of the sentence is Hänen kotinsa, and subjects are in the nominative. Even though kotinsa has an added suffix, it remains nominative singular because it’s the subject.
Why does siisti have no ending like -a or -ä?
Here siisti is an adjective in predicative use (it follows the verb on “is”). Predicative adjectives agree with their subject in case and number, and the nominative singular form of siisti is simply siisti. If the subject were plural you’d say siistit.
What’s the difference between siisti and puhdas?
Both can mean “clean,” but:
- siisti emphasizes that things are neat, tidy and in order.
- puhdas emphasizes that things are physically clean or free of dirt.
So you’d say siisti koti if everything is well-arranged, puhdas koti if it’s freshly washed.
Could I rearrange the words for emphasis, e.g. Siisti on hänen kotinsa?
It’s grammatically possible but very marked or poetic. The neutral, everyday word order is Hänen kotinsa on siisti (Subject–Verb–Predicate). Moving siisti to the front would sound like a stylistic inversion.