Äitini

Äitini is a Finnish noun phrase meaning "my mother." It is formed from the noun äiti (mother) with the first-person possessive suffix -ni, which marks the possessor as "my." In standard Finnish, possessive suffixes attach directly to the noun, so äitini is a single word meaning “my mother.”

Usage in everyday language is straightforward: äitini can function as the subject or object of a sentence. Examples include: Äitini on kotona (“My mother is at home”) and Kävin äitini luona (“I visited my mother”). The form is typically used without an explicit possessive pronoun like minun, since the suffix already conveys the first-person ownership.

The Finnish possessive system provides related forms for other possessors. For example, äitisi means “your mother,” äitinsä means “his/her mother,” äitimme means “our mother,” and äitinne means “your (plural) mother.” These forms follow the same pattern of attaching a possessive suffix directly to äiti.

Etymology and cognates: äiti is a native Finnish word for mother, and the possessive suffixes -ni, -si, -nsä, -mme, and -nne reflect Finnish morphology for first- and second-person and plural possessors. The construction shown by äitini is a common and productive feature of Finnish noun phrases, illustrating how possession is expressed through suffixes rather than separate pronouns in many contexts.

See also: Finnish language, possessive suffixes, family terms in Finnish.