Perhe tukee minua.

My family supports me.

Breakdown of Perhe tukee minua.

• minua: me
• perhe: the family
• tukea: to support

Questions & Answers about Perhe tukee minua.

What does Perhe tukee minua. mean in natural English?

It corresponds to My family supports me.

Literally:

• perhe = family
• tukee = supports (3rd person singular form of tukea, “to support”)
• minua = me (in the partitive case)

Finnish has no articles, so perhe can be a family or the family; in this context, my family is the natural translation.

Which word is the subject, which is the verb, and which is the object?

• perhe – subject (the family)
• tukee – verb (supports)
• minua – object (me)

So the basic structure is Subject – Verb – Object, just like in English: Perhe tukee minua → The family supports me.

Why is it tukee and not tukea?

Tukea is the dictionary form (infinitive: to support).

In the sentence, you need a conjugated form:

• verb: tukea (to support)
• 3rd person singular present: hän tukee / se tukee / perhe tukee

So perhe tukee = the family supports.

A mini-conjugation in the present tense:

• minä tuen – I support
• sinä tuet – you support (singular)
• hän tukee – he/she supports
• me tuemme – we support
• te tuette – you support (plural/formal)
• he tukevat – they support

Why is it minua and not minut?

Minua is the partitive form of minä (I), and minut is the accusative form.

The key point: tukea (to support) is one of the verbs that normally take the partitive case for the person being supported. So you say:

• Perhe tukee minua. – My family supports me.
  not
• Perhe tukee minut. (this sounds wrong to native speakers)

Some other verbs that usually require partitive objects:

• rakastaa minua – to love me
• auttaa minua – to help me (this one can also take other cases in some structures, but minua is very common)

So with tukea, just remember: always use the partitive for the person: minua, sinua, häntä, meitä, teitä, heitä.

What are the main case forms of minä (I) that I should know?

For minä (I):

• minä – nominative (subject: Minä olen… – I am…)
• minun – genitive (possession: minun perheeni – my family)
• minua – partitive (object in many situations: Perhe tukee minua.)
• minut – accusative (object in some other situations: He näkevät minut. – They see me.)

In everyday speech, you most often meet:

• minä – as subject
• minua – as object with many verbs
• minut – as object especially with clear, completed actions (e.g. He ottivat minut mukaan. – They took me along.)

Could you say Perhe tukee minut at all?

Practically speaking: no, not in standard Finnish.

With tukea, the natural and correct object form is partitive:

• Perhe tukee minua. – The family supports me.

Perhe tukee minut sounds ungrammatical or at least very wrong to native speakers. So you should treat tukea like rakastaa (to love): it wants minua, not minut.

Why doesn’t Finnish use a word like the or my before perhe?

Finnish has no articles (no direct equivalent of a/an/the).

Possession (my, your, his/her, etc.) is often expressed by:

1. A possessive adjective (minun, sinun, etc.), and/or
2. A possessive suffix on the noun.

For my family, you can say:

• minun perheeni tukee minua. – my family supports me
  
  • minun = my
  • perheeni = perhe + -ni (my)

But in many contexts, just Perhe tukee minua. is clearly understood as My family supports me, especially if you are talking about yourself. The language simply doesn’t need an article.

Is perhe singular or plural in Finnish?

Perhe is grammatically singular.

Even though in meaning it refers to a group of people, Finnish treats it as a single unit:

• perhe tukee – the family supports (3rd person singular verb)

If you want to talk about families (plural), you use:

• perheet tukevat minua. – families support me
  
  • perheet = families (plural)
  • tukevat = 3rd person plural of tukea

Can the word order change, for example Minua tukee perhe?

Yes. Finnish word order is quite flexible, and it’s often used to emphasize different parts of the sentence.

Base, neutral order:

• Perhe tukee minua. – The family supports me. (Neutral: focus slightly on minua)

Alternative:

• Minua tukee perhe. – It’s my family that supports me.
  This can sound like a contrast: maybe others don’t, but my family does.

The grammatical roles (subject, object) are understood mostly from case endings (e.g. minua is clearly not the subject), so changing word order changes emphasis more than meaning.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say We support you?

You would change both subject and object:

• Me tuemme sinua.

Breakdown:

• me – we
• tuemme – we support (1st person plural of tukea)
• sinua – you (singular, partitive)

So:

• Perhe tukee minua. – The family supports me.
• Me tuemme sinua. – We support you.

What would be the past tense of Perhe tukee minua?

Use the past (imperfect) of tukea, which is tuki in 3rd person singular:

• Perhe tuki minua. – The family supported me.

Structure stays the same; only the verb changes:

• present: tukee – supports
• past: tuki – supported

In spoken Finnish, do people still say minua, or is there a colloquial form?

In everyday spoken Finnish, minua often becomes mua:

• Perhe tukee mua. – colloquial speech
• Perhe tukee minua. – standard / more careful speech

Similarly:

• sinua → sua
• häntä → sitä or sitä/häntä, depending on dialect and context

As a learner, it’s good to produce the standard forms (minua, sinua), but you should recognize the colloquial ones when you hear them.