Possessiivipronominia

Possessiivipronominia, or possessive pronouns in Finnish, are words that indicate ownership or possession. They correspond to the English possessive determiners like "my," "your," "his," "her," "its," "our," and "their," but in Finnish, they also function as pronouns and change form depending on the number and case of the noun they modify.

The basic possessive pronouns in Finnish are minun (my), sinun (your, singular informal), hänen (his/her/its), meidän (our), teidän (your, plural or singular formal), and heidän (their). Unlike English, Finnish possessive pronouns do not inherently indicate gender. These pronouns are typically placed before the noun they possess. For example, "minun taloni" translates to "my house."

A notable feature of Finnish possessive pronouns is their ability to be incorporated into the noun itself through suffixes. This is especially common with the third person singular and plural possessives. For instance, "talo" (house) can become "taloni" (my house), "talosi" (your house), "talonsa" (his/her/its/their house), "talomme" (our house), and "talonne" (your house). When the suffix is used, the separate possessive pronoun (minun, sinun, etc.) is usually omitted unless emphasis is desired. The choice between using the separate pronoun and the suffix depends on context, emphasis, and grammatical clarity.