Henkilöpronominit

Henkilöpronominit are a distinct class of pronouns in Finnish that refer to people and can replace nouns in discourse. They function as both subject and object and are inflected for person and number, with different forms for nominative, genitive, and partitive cases. They are among the most common words in Finnish and are central to sentence structure and reference.

The core personal pronouns are minä, sinä, hän, me, te, he. Nominative forms are used for the subject of a sentence: Minä sanoa, Sinä näet, Hän ×, Me menemme, Te tulette, He tulevat. The genitive forms express possession or relation: minun, sinun, hänen, meidän, teidän, heidän. The partitive forms are used mainly for the object or indefinite quantities: minua, sinua, häntä, meitä, teitä, heitä. In Finnish, there is no separate distinct accusative form; object relations are typically expressed with the partitive or, in some contexts, the genitive.

The third-person singular pronoun hän is gender-neutral, referring to a man or a woman. Possessive pronouns corresponding to hän are hänen (singular) and heidän (plural) before or with nouns to indicate ownership.

Usage notes include that Finnish often omits pronouns when the subject or object is evident from the verb or context. The pronoun te serves as both plural you and a polite form in some contexts, while singular you is usually sinä in contemporary usage. Henkilöpronominit thus provide reference, emphasis, and clarity, while Finnish syntax frequently allows pronoun omission for conciseness.