kollegani

Kollegani is a Finnish noun formed from kollega, meaning “colleague,” with the first-person singular possessive suffix -ni attached. The term translates to “my colleague” and illustrates Finnish grammar in which possessive relationships are expressed through suffixes directly on the noun rather than with separate possessive pronouns. The base word kollega is a loanword from the German Kollege, with related forms in other Nordic languages.

Usage and grammar

Kollegani refers to a single colleague known to the speaker. It can function as the subject or object in a sentence, depending on context. Examples include: Kollegani on saapunut. (My colleague has arrived.) Kollegani osallistuu projektiin. (My colleague is participating in the project.) In Finnish, possessive forms extend to other persons as well, such as kollegasi (your colleague) or kollegansa (his/her/its colleague), and kollegamme (our colleague/colleagues, depending on context).

Context and nuances

Kollegani is commonly used in informal and formal speech alike and is understood across Finnish-speaking communities. While it often suffices on its own, speakers can add minuun or minun for emphasis in rare cases, though this is typically redundant because the possessive suffix conveys the meaning clearly. The term demonstrates how Finnish relies on morphology to encode person and possession within a single word.

See also

Kollega; Finnish language; possessive suffixes; loanwords in Finnish.