Kotitehtävänsä

Kotitehtävänsä is a Finnish noun phrase meaning “one’s homework,” formed from kotitehtävä (homework) with the third‑person possessive suffix. The possessive suffix is written as -nsä or -nsa, depending on vowel harmony, yielding forms such as kotitehtävänsä. In practice, the exact suffix varies with the possessor and the surrounding phonology, but kotitehtävänsä is the standard form used for his/her/their homework in contexts where the possessor is clear.

The phrase is normally used to refer to homework owned by a third person, for example Hänen kotitehtävänsä on palautettu (Her/His homework has been returned). Finnish also varies the suffix for other persons: kotitehtäväsi means your homework (singular you), kotitehtävämme means our homework, and kotitehtävienne or kotitehtävänne can be used for you-all in more formal registers. These forms illustrate how possessive suffixes encode person and number directly on the noun.

Usage and interpretation are driven by context. Without an explicit subject pronoun, kotitehtävänsä can be ambiguous between singular and plural owners, so surrounding information clarifies who possesses the homework. The construction is common in everyday Finnish, especially in educational settings and language-learning resources, and it showcases Finnish possessive morphology and noun-compounding.

See also: kotitehtävä.