Accusative Total Object - Human objects - Minut Sinut

This page contains a list of accusative total object verbs. All these verbs can have a person as their object, and said object will appear in the accusative case. The accusative total object in the following sentences has been marked in green.

Pronoun	Finnish	English
kuka	Kenet presidentti kutsui juhliin?	Whom did the president invite to the party?
minä	Presidentti kutsui minut juhliin.	The president invited me to the party.
sinä	Presidentti kutsui sinut juhliin.	The president invited you to the party.
hän	Presidentti kutsui hänet juhliin.	The president invited him/her to the party.
me	Presidentti kutsui meidät juhliin.	The president invited us to the party.
te	Presidentti kutsui teidät juhliin.	The president invited you (plural) to the party.
he	Presidentti kutsui heidät juhliin.	The president invited them to the party.

What is the accusative case?

The accusative is a grammatical case. It expresses that an element in the sentence is the direct object of a verb. In most circumstances, the accusative looks like one of the other Finnish cases. Depending on the object, the accusative case can look like:

The genitive case: Adoptoin vauvan. Tapaan miehen. Tapan rikollisen. Muistan ystävän.
The nominative case: Adoptoi vauva! Tapaa mies! Tapa rikollinen! Muista ystävä!
The T-plural: Adoptoin vauvat. Tapaan miehet. Tapan rikolliset. Muistan ystävät.

The only situation where the accusative has “its own ending” – distinct from any of the other Finnish cases – is when we’re using a personal pronoun. The variation between genitive and nominative that we see when our object is a noun will disappear when we use a personal pronoun instead.

Basic present tense: [Liisa kutsuu hänet juhliin] versus [Liisa kutsuu Tiinan juhliin]
Basic past tense: [Liisa kutsui hänet juhliin] versus [Liisa kutsui Tiinan juhliin]
Conditional: [Kutsuisitko hänet juhliin?] versus [Kutsuisitko Tiinan juhliin?]
Singular imperative: [Kutsu hänet juhliin!] versus [Kutsu Tiina juhliin!]
Plural imperative: [Kutsukaa hänet juhliin!] versus [Kutsukaa Tiina juhliin!]
Necessity sentence: [Sinun täytyy kutsua hänet juhliin] versus [Sinun täytyy kutsua Tiina juhliin]
Passive sentence: [Kutsutaan hänet juhliin!] versus [Kutsutaan Tiina juhliin!]

I’m reluctant to use the term “accusative” for all total objects partly because of my experiences both as a Finnish learner and as a Finnish teacher. As a learner, I had never heard of this concept before I started learning Finnish. The Finnish classes I took didn’t teach the case other than as a small peculiarity that only had to do with personal pronouns. I think I would have struggled quite a bit trying to wrap my head around this new concept. I’m quite grateful that this part of the grammar was simplified for me.

As a Finnish teacher, I get to teach a lot of students whose first foreign language is Finnish. They don’t have a base knowledge of Latin or other languages to draw from. Introducing yet another case, but then stating that the case doesn’t have “its own ending”, is too much for many students with limited experience with foreign languages and/or schooling as a whole.

As far as I’m concerned, the accusative case is only present in the words minut, sinut, hänet, meidät, teidät, heidät and kenet. My attitude is backed up by most Finnish course books you’ll find on the market and by my colleagues at work. Some readers of my website disagree with my choice. If you feel you benefit from understanding the term, that’s great!

Accusative total object verbs

I’ve opted for using hänet in all of my examples, but you could replace it with any of the other personal pronouns. For example, you can easily replace hänet with minut, sinut or meidät in the sentence “Adoptoin hänet” below.

Verb	Example	Translation
adoptoida	Adoptoin hänet.	I adopted him.
esitellä	Esittelin hänet muille.	I introduced him to the others.
herättää	Herätin hänet viideltä.	I woke him up at five o’clock.
haastaa	Haastoin hänet kaksintaisteluun.	I challenged him to a duel.
huomata	Huomasin hänet kaukaa.	I noticed him from far away.
hylätä	Hylkäsin hänet.	I rejected/abandoned him.
hyväksyä	Hyväksyin hänet osaksi perhettä.	I accepted him as part of the family.
häätää	Häädin hänet ulos talosta.	I threw him out of the house.
johtaa	Johdin hänet työhuoneeseeni.	I led him to my office.
johtaa	Johdin hänet pois metsästä.	I led him out of the woods.
jättää	Jätin hänet kotiin.	I left him at home.
karkottaa	Karkotin hänet maasta.	I deported him from the country.
kasvattaa	Kasvatin hänet yksin.	I raised him alone.
komentaa	Komensin hänet ulos autosta.	I commanded him out of the car.
kouluttaa	Koulutin hänet itse.	I trained him myself.
kuljettaa	Kuljetin hänet sairaalaan.	I drove him to the hospital.
kutsua	Kutsuin hänet juhliin.	I invited him to the party.
kuulla	Kuulin hänet.	I heard him.
lähettää	Lähetin hänet pois.	I sent him away.
löytää	Löysin hänet kuolleena sängystä.	I found him dead in bed.
mainita	Mainitsin hänet blogissani.	I mentioned him on my blog.
muistaa	Muistin hänet koulusta.	I remembered him from school.
murhata	Murhasin hänet veitsellä.	I murdered him with a knife.
myrkyttää	Myrkytin hänet.	I poisoned him.
nolata	Nolasin hänet täysin.	I embarrassed him completely.
nähdä	Näin hänet bussiasemalla.	I saw him at the bus station.
ohjata	Ohjasin hänet istumapaikalleen.	I directed him to his seat.
palkata	Palkkasin hänet heti.	I hired him immediately.
pelastaa	Pelastin hänet palavasta talosta.	I saved him from a burning house.
päästää	Päästin hänet sisään.	I let him in.
saattaa	Saatoin hänet asemalle.	I escorted him to the station.
synnyttää	Synnytin hänet heinäkuussa.	I gave birth to him in July.
tappaa	Tapoin hänet.	I killed him.
tavoittaa	Tavoitin hänet puhelimitse.	I reached him by phone.
torjua	Torjuin hänet ikänsä takia.	I rejected him because of his age.
tunnistaa	Tunnistin hänet heti.	I recognized him immediately.
tuomita	Tuomitsin hänet kuolemaan.	I sentenced him to death.
unohtaa	Unohdin hänet täysin.	I forgot him completely.
vapauttaa	Vapautin hänet työtehtävistään.	I relieved him of his duties.
viedä	Vein hänet turvaan.	I took him to safety.

It might be a good idea to cross-reference the verb on this page with the verbs in my article called “Total Object Verbs – Genitive Object – Verb List“.

Pronouns with other types of verbs

The list above contains accusative total object verbs. As a refresher, I’m listing other types of object verbs below. You can click the link to read more about these types of verbs and how the personal pronoun object behaves in those types of sentences.

I find this important to add because many English verbs will get an object while their Finnish equivalent won’t. Perhaps one day, I will write a new article on this topic from an English language perspective.

Verb	Example	Translation
to kill	Tapoin hänet.	I killed him.
to call	Soitin hänelle.	I called him.
to love	Rakastin häntä.	I loved him.
to like	Tykkäsin hänestä.	I liked him.

3.1. Partitive verbs

Some verbs will require their object to be inflected in the partitive case.

Verb	Example	Translation
rakastaa	Rakastan häntä.	I love him.
ihailla	Ihailen häntä.	I admire him.
inhota	Inhoan häntä.	I detest him.
kaivata	Kaipaan häntä.	I miss him.

Beginners: you should read this article about partitive verbs
Advanced learners: you would benefit greatly from reading about so-called partitive verbs, as well as this in-depth view of different types of objects.

3.2. Verb rections: kenelle, keneltä, kenelle

Some verbs require a location case. In those sentences, the personal pronoun is not an object, even if it’s possible that it might function as an object in your native language. Find more examples here.

Verb	Example	Translation
soittaa	Soitin hänelle.	I called him.
luottaa	Luotin häneen.	I trusted him.
pitää	Pidin hänestä.	I liked him.

3.3. Third infinitive verbs

Some verbs require a “double rection”: their object will appear in a certain form while the verb related will appear in the third infinitive’s -maan form. I have an article all about third infinitive rections. In addition, you can also read this more detailed article about verbs that express that you’re making someone do something. These verbs can have an object either in the partitive or the accusative case, as I’ve explained in the articles I’m linking.

Verb	Example	Translation
kannustaa	Kannustin häntä osallistumaan.	I encouraged him to get involved.
opettaa	Opetin häntä ajamaan.	I taught him to drive.
ohjata	Ohjasin hänet istumaan.	I directed him to sit down.
käskeä	Käskin hänet menemään ulos.	I ordered him to go outside.

3.4. Translative verb rections

Another “double rection” group of verbs get an object, which is used in combination with the translative case. You can find more examples of this type of verbs here. The object can be either partitive or accusative, depending on the verb used.

Verb	Example	Translation
syyttää	Syytin häntä valehtelijaksi.	I accused him of being a liar.
epäillä	Epäilin häntä syylliseksi.	I suspected him of being guilty.
palkata	Palkkasin hänet sihteeriksi.	I hired him as a secretary.
valita	Valitsin hänet tiiminvetäjäksi.	I chose him as team leader.