Understanding Finnish Possessive Suffixes
In Finnish, we use something called 'possessive suffixes' to show that something belongs to someone. It's like adding a special ending to a word to say 'my', 'your', 'his', 'her', and so on.
Important Points
- Possessive suffixes are added to the end of nouns.
- They change depending on who owns the thing.
- The suffixes are different for singular and plural owners.
- Possessive suffixes are used with both singular and plural nouns.
Let's look at how these suffixes work. If you want to say 'my dog' in Finnish, you would take the word for dog, 'koira', and add '-ni' to make 'koirani'. This shows that the dog belongs to you.
Examples
- Minun koirani on pieni. (My dog is small.)
- Sinun kirjasi on pöydällä. (Your book is on the table.)
- Hänen talonsa on suuri. (His/Her house is big.)
Important Points
- For 'my', use '-ni' (e.g., koirani).
- For 'your' (singular), use '-si' (e.g., kirjasi).
- For 'his/her', use '-nsa' or '-nsä' (e.g., talonsa).
- For 'our', use '-mme' (e.g., koiramme).
- For 'your' (plural), use '-nne' (e.g., kirjanne).
- For 'their', use '-nsa' or '-nsä' (e.g., talonsa).
Remember, these endings change slightly depending on the vowel harmony of the word. But don't worry, as you practice, you'll get the hang of it!