Learn Hardcore Finnish: Hänen asenteensa on myönteisempi nyt kuin eilen. - His/Her attitude is more positive now than yesterday.

Using hänen asenne without the possessive suffix is non‑standard / colloquial.
Using asenteensa without hänen is possible when the possessor is clear from context, but then you’re relying on context instead of stating it explicitly.

What exactly does the ending -nsa in asenteensa mean?

The ending -nsa / -nsä is the 3rd‑person possessive suffix, meaning roughly his / her / their.

Examples with asenne (attitude):

asenteeni = my attitude (1st person)
asenteesi = your attitude (2nd person singular)
asenteensa = his / her / their attitude (3rd person)

More examples with another noun, talo (house):

taloni = my house
talosi = your house
talonsa = his/her/their house

So in asenteensa, the -nsa shows that the attitude belongs to some 3rd‑person referent (someone talked about as “he”, “she”, or “they”).

What is the base form of asenteensa, and why does asenne change like that?

The dictionary (nominative) form is asenne = attitude.

Its important forms are:

nominative: asenne (attitude)
genitive: asenteen (of the attitude)
with 3rd‑person possessive suffix: asenteensa (his/her attitude)

Morphologically:

asenne → asenteen (genitive)
asenteen + -sa → asenteensa

So asenteensa literally contains:

the noun stem asentee-
the possessive suffix -nsa (spelled as part of the same word)

Does Hänen mean “his” or “her” here?

Hänen can mean his or her; Finnish doesn’t have grammatical gender for people.

hän = he / she (gender‑neutral)
hänen = his / her

So Hänen asenteensa could be:

his attitude
her attitude

Only the wider context tells you which is intended.

What is the role of on in this sentence? Can it ever be left out?

On is the 3rd‑person singular form of the verb olla = to be.

(hän) on = he/she is
Hänen asenteensa on myönteisempi… = His/Her attitude is more positive…

In standard Finnish, you must include on in this kind of sentence.
In some casual spoken Finnish, people sometimes drop on in short phrases, but as a learner you should always keep it:

standard: Se on kiva. = It is nice.
very colloquial: Se kiva. (you might hear this, but you don’t need to imitate it)

For writing and for clear, correct Finnish: always use on here.

How is myönteisempi formed from myönteinen, and why isn’t there a separate word for “more”?

The base adjective is:

myönteinen = positive (attitude, response, etc.)

Finnish usually forms the comparative of adjectives with the suffix -mpi.
For adjectives ending in -nen, the pattern is:

Drop -nen
Add -mpi (with an extra s: -sempi)

So:

myönteinen → myönteise- + mpi → myönteisempi
= more positive

Because -mpi (here -sempi) already encodes the idea “more”, Finnish does not use an extra word like enemmän in this sentence. You would not say:

✗ enemmän myönteinen
but instead:
✓ myönteisempi

A few parallel examples:

pitkä → pidempi = long → longer
kaunis → kauniimpi = beautiful → more beautiful
ystävällinen → ystävällisempi = friendly → friendlier / more friendly

Does myönteisempi agree with asenteensa in case or number?

Yes, as a predicative adjective (an adjective linked to the subject by on “is”), myönteisempi agrees with the subject Hänen asenteensa in case and number.

Here:

subject: Hänen asenteensa = his/her attitude
→ singular, nominative
predicative: myönteisempi = more positive
→ also singular, nominative

So both are nominative singular.

If the subject changed, the adjective would change too. For example:

Hänen asenteensa ovat myönteisiä.
= His/Her attitudes are positive.
(subject plural → adjective plural myönteisiä)

In our sentence, there’s one attitude, so myönteisempi stays singular.

What does kuin mean here, and how is it different from kun?

In this sentence, kuin is the standard word used in comparisons and means than:

myönteisempi nyt kuin eilen
= more positive now than yesterday

So the structure is:

[comparative adjective] + kuin + [thing you compare to]

A couple more examples:

Hän on vanhempi kuin veljensä.
= He/She is older than his/her brother.
Tämä kirja on parempi kuin tuo.
= This book is better than that one.

Kun, on the other hand, most often means when:

Kun tulin kotiin, satoi.
= When I came home, it was raining.

So:

kuin → than (in comparisons), also “as” in some structures (niin… kuin…)
kun → when (time)

You can’t use kun in place of kuin in this comparative.

Why are nyt and eilen just single words, with no prepositions like “at” or “on”?

Nyt (now) and eilen (yesterday) are adverbs of time in Finnish.
They already contain the meaning that English expresses with prepositions:

nyt = now
eilen = yesterday

Finnish generally doesn’t use prepositions like on, at, in with these time adverbs:

Tulin eilen. = I came yesterday.
Lähden nyt. = I’m leaving now.
Tapasimme tänään. = We met today.

So nyt and eilen stand alone without extra words.

Can we change the word order, for example to Hänen asenteensa on nyt myönteisempi kuin eilen or Nyt hänen asenteensa on myönteisempi kuin eilen? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the position of nyt, and it doesn’t change the basic meaning. All of these are grammatical:

Hänen asenteensa on myönteisempi nyt kuin eilen.
Hänen asenteensa on nyt myönteisempi kuin eilen.
Nyt hänen asenteensa on myönteisempi kuin eilen.

The difference is mainly in emphasis and rhythm:

Version 2 (…on nyt myönteisempi…) is probably the most neutral, everyday word order.
Version 3 (Nyt hänen asenteensa on…) puts extra emphasis on “now”, a bit like saying “Now his/her attitude is more positive than it was yesterday.”

But all three are understandable and correct.

Could we instead say Hän on myönteisempi nyt kuin eilen? Is that the same meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Hän on myönteisempi nyt kuin eilen.
= He/She is more positive now than (he/she was) yesterday.

The meaning is very close, but the focus is slightly different:

Hän on myönteisempi…
focuses on the person as a whole being more positive.
Hänen asenteensa on myönteisempi…
focuses more specifically on his/her attitude being more positive.

In many everyday contexts, they would be used interchangeably, but the original sentence sounds a bit more “psychological” or “about attitude” as a distinct thing.

How would you say “much more positive” or “a bit more positive” in Finnish in this sentence?

You modify the comparative myönteisempi with adverbs that express degree:

paljon myönteisempi = much more positive / a lot more positive
huomattavasti myönteisempi = considerably more positive
selvästi myönteisempi = clearly more positive
vähän myönteisempi = a bit more positive / slightly more positive

So you could say, for example:

Hänen asenteensa on paljon myönteisempi nyt kuin eilen.
= His/Her attitude is much more positive now than yesterday.
Hänen asenteensa on vähän myönteisempi nyt kuin eilen.
= His/Her attitude is a bit more positive now than yesterday.