Finnish does not have independent possessive pronouns as such, marking
possession for the different grammatical persons; this function is fulfilled by
the genitive forms of the personal pronouns.
minä I minu/n my
sinä you (sing.) sinu/n your (sing.)
hän he, she häne/n his, her
me we mei/dän our
te you (pl.) tei/dän your (pl.)
he they hei/dän their
The word signifying what is possessed also takes an ending, a possessive
suffix, which varies with the person (concord; third person singular and
plural have the same ending).
Singular Plural
First person -ni -mme
Second person -si -nne
Third person -nsa ~ -nsä -nsa ~ -nsä
Genitive personal pronouns in the first and second persons can be
omitted when they occur together with a possessive suffix.
98 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
(minun) velje/ni my brother
(minun) äiti/ni my mother
(sinun) sisare/si your sister
hänen poika/nsa his/her son
hänen isä/nsä his/her father
(meidän) talo/mme our house
(meidän) perhee/mme our family
(teidän) paikka/nne your place
(teidän) kirja/nne your book
heidän talo/nsa their house
heidän ystävä/nsä their friend
The omission of the first and second person pronouns is particularly common
when the person is identical with that of the subject of the sentence and the
possessive expression has another function (e.g. object).
Otan kirja/ni. I(’ll) take my book.
Myyttekö auto/nne? Are you selling your car?
Löydätkö avaime/si? Can you find your key?
Teemme parhaa/mme. We are doing our best.
Emme muuta asunno/sta/mme.We are not moving out of our flat.
Third person pronouns can normally only be omitted when they have the
same reference as the subject of the sentence; they then correspond to
possessive pronouns in many other languages.
Hän ajaa auto/nsa kotiin. He drives his car home.
Kalle ajaa auto/nsa kotiin. Kalle drives his car home.
He juovat olue/nsa. They drink their beer.
Miehet juovat olue/nsa. The men drink their beer.
Presidentti lähtee linna/a/nsa. The President goes to his palace.
Compare the following sentences wher the third person pronoun does not
refer back to the subject.
Kalle ajaa hänen auto/nsa kotiin.
Kalle drives his/her car home (i.e. someone else’s car).
Amerikkalaiset tapaavat heidän edustaja/nsa.
The Americans meet their representatives (not their own but e.g. the
other side’s).
Within the word, possessive suffixes always occur after case endings but
before enclitic particles.
The genitive, possessive suffixes and the accusative 99
auto/lla/ni with my car
auto/sta/si out of your car
maa/ta/mme our country (part.)
poika/nne/kin your son too
äidi/ltä/ni/hän from my mother+emphasis
isä/lle/si/kö to your father?
When a possessive suffix occurs after a case form ending in a consonant the
following alternation takes place:
This deletion particularly applies to the genitive singular ending -n, the
genitive plural endings -iden ~ -itten ~ -en ~ -ten, the nominative plural
ending -t and the illative endings -Vn ~ -hVn ~ -seen ~ -siin.
Root+case Root+case+possessive suffix
laiva/n of the ship laiva/ /ni my ship’s
tytö/n of the girl tyttö/ /mme our girl’s
talo/t the houses talo/ /nne your houses
lauku/t the bags laukku/ /si your bags
auto/on into the car auto/o/ni into my car
maa/han into the country maa/ha/nsa into his country
Note especially that on account of this dropping of the final consonant
several case forms look the same when followed by a possessive suffix:
nominative singular and plural, and genitive singular.
Veneeni on uusi. My boat is new.
Veneeni ovat uudet. My boats are new.
Veneeni nimi on Tarantella. My boat’s name is Tarantella.
Oletko nahnyt veneeni? Have you seen my boat(s)?
Notice that it is the concord in the verb that differentiates the first two
sentences above (on ‘is’ and ovat ‘are’).
It is apparent from what has been said so far that consonant gradation
does not occur directly before a possessive suffix; cf. the inflection of the
noun laukku ‘bag’.
(minun) laukku/ni (meidan) laukku/mme
(sinun) laukku/si (teidan) laukku/nne
hänen laukku/nsa heidän laukku/nsa
The final consonant of a case ending is dropped when followed by a
possessive suffix.
100 Finnish: An Essential Grammar
Because of the deletion of the final consonant, (minun) laukku/ni for
instance may mean ‘my bag’, ‘my bags’, or ‘of my bag’.
In the nominative singular the possessive suffix is always added to the
inflectional stem.
Basic Inflectional stem Cf. §
form +possessive suffix
ovi ove/mme our door 18.2
ääni ääne/si your voice 18.3
käsi käte/ni my hand 18.4
kone konee/nne your machine 19
hevonen hevose/nsa his/her/their horse 20.1
kysymys kysymykse/si your question 20.2
kirves kirvee/nsä his/her/their axe 20.3
If the third person possessive suffix occurs after a case ending in a short
vowel, its form is usually -Vn (vowel + -n), wher the vowel is identical with
the immediately preceding vowel. The ending -nsa ~ -nsä is occasionally also
possible with such forms, and it is always the ending used after cases other
than those ending in a short vowel.
heidän talo/ssa/an in their house
hänen auto/lla/an with his/her car
heidän isä/lle/en to their father
hänen äidi/ltä/än from his/her mother
äiti/ä/än his/her mother (part.)
pää/tä/än his/her head (part.)
maa/ta/an his/her country (part.)
Compare the following forms wher the third person possessive suffix is not
preceded by a case ending of the type defined above.
heidän talo/o/nsa into their house (illat.)
hänen auto/nsa his/her car (nom. or gen.)
heidän isä/ä/nsä their father (part, or illat.)
hänen äiti/nsä his/her mother (nom. or gen.)
