1. The Usage of Possessive Suffixes

1.1. Used to express ownership

Possessive suffixes can be used in combination with a possessive pronouns (as listed below).

In these phrases, you are offering the information twice (e.g. hänen autonsa “his car-his”), which is in a way redundant. Either one of the elements could be removed without losing the meaning of the phrase. However, the decision to remove either element depends on the context of the phrase. There are three different contexts. Very official texts will have both elements: both the pronoun and the suffix. In standard Finnish (e.g. in professional settings or on the news) you will only use the possessive suffix, except for the hän and he forms, where you must use both elements. Lastly, in colloquially spoken Finnish, you will find the pronoun but not the possessive suffix.

Note that depending on the dialect, you will hear other versions for the plural forms which are very regional:

• meidän: meiän, meijän, meijä, meitin, meen, mein, meän, mejän, meirän, meilän
  
• teidän: teiän, teijän, teijä, teitin, teirän, teilän
• heidän: niiden, niitten, heiän, heijän, heijä, heitin, heirän, heilän

1.2. Used with postpositions

Postpositions generally are used in combination with a noun in the genitive case. Sometimes there isn’t a noun, just a pronoun. When we’re expressing the relative relation between the postposition and a person, we will use a possessive suffix, as you can see below.

1.3. Toinen / itse

The word toinen can mean “each other” or “one another”. The usage of this word is more tricky than in English, because you will have to use the appropriate possessive suffix. The same is true for the reflective pronoun itse, which you can read about more behind that link.

1.4. With adverbs of manner

Certain adverbs of manner will include a possessive suffix. These forms are in the process of fossilizing, which means that instead of e.g. “olen pahoillani“, you’re likely to hear “olen pahoillaan“.

Some of them are formed with the adessive case (-lla/llä). Read more about those here.

And some of them are formed with the inessive case (-ssa/ssä).

1.5. In special sentence constructions

The following are all advanced sentence constructions. I’m linking to each of the topics so you can go read more about them. You can also find an example sentence in the table below.

1. Present temporal construction (e.g. imuroidessani, mennessämme)
2. Past temporal construction (e.g. imuroituani, mentyämme)
3. Agent participle (e.g. maalaamani taulu)
4. First infinitive (e.g. sanoakseni, häiritäkseen)
5. Referative construction (e.g. osaavani, osanneeni)
6. Comitative (e.g. vaimoineen, lapsineen)

1.6. Possessive Suffixes in Written versus Spoken Language

The way possessive suffixes and pronouns are used depends on the formality of the situation. You might have people ask you “Mikä sun nimi on?” as well as “Mikä sinun nimesi on?”. Both are correct.

* As you can see above, we’re not removing hänen and heidän in standard Finnish. You can’t omit the personal pronoun for the third person. You can omit the personal pronoun only for minun, sinun, meidän and teidän.

The third person forms hänen and heidän require you to say the personal pronoun. For example, you can say/write “hänen autonsa” or “hänen auto“, but not “autonsa” without the “hänen“. This is due to the fact that both the singular and the plural third person possessive suffix is –nsa, which makes them indistinguishable from one another.

2. The Formation of the Possessive Suffixes

2.1. Most word types

For most words, you just add the possessive suffix to the end of the word.

2.2. Words ending in -e

Add an extra -e– before the possessive suffix!

2.3. Words ending in -i

2.3.1. New words ending in -i

New words are often loanwords. Usually they’re recognisable because they resemble words in other languages, like pankki for “bank”, or paperi for “paper”. Loanwords are easier than Finnish words because they don’t undergo as many changes when you add endings.

2.3.2. Old words ending in -i

Old words are very often nature words. After all, nature has been around for so long that Finns have had names for them since the very beginning. Some words’ age can be confusing, for example äiti “mother” is actually a new Finnish word, eventhough mothers have been around since the beginning of time!

For these words, replace the final –i– with –e– and add possessive suffix.

2.3.3. Old words ending in -si

More old words, but this time with –si at their end. This group has its own additional change: replace –si– with –te– and add the possessive suffix.

2.4. Words ending in a consonant

2.4.1. Words ending in -nen

For words ending in –nen, you will replace the –nen with -se/-se before the possessive suffix. This is the same change that -nen words go through when being inflected in any case except the partitive.

2.4.2. Words ending in -as: replace -as with -aa-

Words ending in -as (or –äs, depending on vowel harmony rules) will get a long vowel -aa/ää- before the possessive suffix. Read more about words ending in -as here.

2.4.3. Words ending in -is: two groups

For words ending in -is, we have two groups. Words like kallis get -ii- when inflected, to which we add the possessive suffix. Words like roskis which get -ikse- when inflected.

2.4.4. Words ending in -us/-os: two groups

Words ending in -os will get -okse- when inflected. Words ending in -us can belong to two groups: some get -ukse-, others get -ude-. You will want to check out this article to get the specifics.

Some general guidelines:

• If the word is based on a verb (such as opettaa > opetus), it will generally get –ukse-.
• If the word is based on an adjective (such as pimeä > pimeys), it will get –ute-.
• If the word is based on a noun (such as ystävä > ystävyys), it will get –ute-.
• If the word ends in –uus/yys (double vowel), you will get –ute-.

2.4.5. Words ending in –in: replace with -ime-

Read more about words ending in -in here.

2.4.6. Words ending in –ut: two groups

Words that end in -ut/yt can belong to two wordtypes. The smallest group of the two contains words such as olut, kevyt and lyhyt. For these words, you will replace the final -t with an –e-.

The much larger group is made up of NUT-participles such as väsynyt and tottunut. For the words, you will replace the -ut/yt with -ee-. Note that we will only add a possessive suffix to these when they’re used independently as a noun. When we use it as an adjective, it won’t get a possessive suffix.

2.4.7. Words ending in -tar

Words ending in -tar are rare, but at least tytär (daughter) is a common word. In the mihin-form, these words get -ttare- in place of the basic form’s -tar.

3. The Inflection of Words with a Possessive Suffix

In addition to adding possessive suffixes to the nominative (the basic form), you can also add them to words that have been put in the cases.

For some cases, the case marker will disappear when you add a possessive suffix. This happens with the plural nominative (autot) and the genitive (auton). In these sentences, you will have to figure out which case is used based on the context. Eg. Autoni on rikki. (auto) vs. Autoni ovat rikki. (autot) vs. Autoni rengas on rikki. (auton).

The final -n from the mihin forms (autoon and autoihin) will also disappear (autoo-ni and autoihi-ni).

4. The Third Person Possessive Suffix

The third person possessive suffix is either –nsa or –nsä, both for the singular and the plural form.

In addition, there is a second possible ending for the third person. The third person possessive suffix can also consist of the repetition of the last vowel of the word, in combination with an –n. This form gets used often in modern Finnish.

However, this [vowel + n] possessive suffix can only be used for certain cases. The basic form (e.g. auto), the cases which end in a consonant (ie. auton, autot and autoon) or in a double vowel (e.g. the partitive form koiraa, but not autoa) will only get -nsa. The other cases all can have both options (e.g. both autossansa and autossaan).

In the table below, you will find the word lehti in the most common cases, with the third person possessive suffixes.

If you understand when it’s possible to use the [vowel + n] third person possessive suffix, I suggest you use that form over the –nsa. It sounds more natural than the -nsa form in cases where both are possible.

5. Consonant Gradation for Possessive Suffixes

All the possessive suffixes in this article have been added to the nominative (basic) form of the nouns. However, there is nothing preventing you from adding these suffixes to words that are already in some case.

Words from Wordtype A and words from Wordtype B behave differently when you add a possessive suffix to them. I will explain that difference in the following tables. Note that I’m using the first person suffix in this example, but the rule is the same in all persons.

5.1. Wordtype A Consonant Gradation

The first 6 forms of the table above have the strong grade -pp- and -t-. In contrast, the last 6 have the weak grade -p- and -d-.

This is a phonological phenomenon, which follows the general consonant gradation rules.

• If the -kpt- is located at the beginning of an open syllable, you will use the strong grade.
  e.g. kauppa-na-ni; leipä-ni
• If the -kpt- is located at the beginning of an closed syllable, you will use the weak grade.
  e.g. kaupas-sa-ni; leiväs-sä-ni

5.2. Wordtype B Consonant Gradation

There is a clear difference with consonant gradation between wordtype A and wordtype B!

Wordtype B’s consonant gradation is also dependent on the open/closed syllable rules just like wordtype A. It is, however, easier, because these words all have an open syllable except for the partitive.

That concludes the article on possessive suffixes!

Related posts:

The Order of Finnish Suffixes – Miehelleni Talossammekin Levällään Ammollaan Sukkasillaan Finnish Adessive Phrases Expressing Necessity with a Passive Participle – On Mentävä, On Odotettava Täytyy Sentence Types – Syntax of Necessity Sentences