Kasvonsa

Kasvonsa is a Finnish linguistic term referring to the noun kasvo (face) in its third-person singular possessive form. The form kasvonsa is created by attaching the possessive suffix -nsä to the stem kasvo, yielding a phrase that means “his/her/its face.” Finnish expresses possession with suffixes rather than separate possessive pronouns, and kasvonsa is the result of that system for the third person singular.

Morphology and spelling: kasvo + nsä = kasvonsa. The suffix -nsä indicates ownership by a third person singular referent, and the vowel pattern aligns with Finnish orthography and vowel harmony. Kasvonsa is a bound form used within a larger noun phrase, typically accompanied by a separate pronoun or understood from context to specify the owner.

Usage: Kasvonsa is used to refer to someone’s face in contexts where the owner is either explicit or clear from context. For explicit possession, Finnish can add a possessive pronoun such as hänen: esimerkiksi hänen kasvonsa means “his/her face.” In many descriptive passages, kasvonsa functions as a natural way to mention the face of a previously identified subject without repeating the noun.

Related terms: kasvo (face), kasvot (faces, plural), ilme (facial expression). The possessive suffix system extends to many other Finnish nouns, enabling concise expressions of ownership across the language.

Notes: Kasvonsa is a standard grammatical form in Finnish. Its meaning is determined by context and, when needed, reinforced by an explicit possessor like hänen. The word is primarily of interest in discussions of Finnish morphology and syntax.