hänhäntä

Hänhäntä is a term that appears in some Finnish linguistic discussions to describe the two central forms of the third-person pronoun in Finnish: nominative hän and object/partitive häntä. The term is not part of standard grammar and is not commonly found in dictionaries; it is mainly used as a shorthand in educational contexts to illustrate pronoun case alternations.

Etymology and scope: The name combines the two related forms, emphasizing how Finnish pronouns inflect for case. In practice, hän functions as the subject in sentences, while häntä appears where the pronoun is in an object position, or in constructions that require a partitive or oblique object. The concept does not imply a separate lexical item but a way to discuss the pronoun’s case system in a compact form.

Usage and caveats: Because hänhäntä is informal and not standard, it should be avoided in formal writing. When explaining Finnish pronouns, it is clearer to refer to hän (nominative) and häntä (accusative/partitive object) or to describe case functions more generally. The term may appear in linguistic articles, instructor notes, or language-learning discussions, but it is not widely adopted in authoritative grammars.

See also: Finnish pronouns; Finnish grammar; Personal pronouns; Case in Finnish.