【芬兰语语法】§36 POSSESSIVE SUFFIXES

 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.)