ketäkään

ketäkään is a Finnish word, a form of the pronoun "kuka" (who). It translates to "anyone," "anybody," or "nobody" in English, depending on the context of the sentence and the presence of negation.

In affirmative sentences, ketäkään typically means "anyone" or "anybody." For example, "Voitko auttaa ketään?" translates to "Can you help anyone?" or "Can you help anybody?"

However, in negative sentences, ketäkään takes on the meaning of "nobody" or "no one." This is a common feature in Finnish grammar where negation is often expressed by both a negative verb and a negative pronoun or adverb. For instance, "En nähnyt ketään" means "I didn't see anyone," which in English is equivalent to "I saw nobody" or "I saw no one." Similarly, "Hän ei tunne ketään täällä" translates to "He/She doesn't know anyone here," or "He/She knows nobody here."

The word ketäkään is in the partitive case, which is frequently used with indefinite or unspecified quantities, or in negative sentences, aligning with its semantic function. Understanding this dual meaning is crucial for accurate comprehension of Finnish sentences.