Possessive Suffix
Spoken language has a different grammar for the possessive suffix. For direct addresses, save for one form it is not used, so that the pronoun cannot be omitted. Even in the second-person singular, the pronoun is virtually never omitted. In contrast, in the literary language, the pronoun is optional and typically omitted.
| Formal | Spoken | English |
|---|---|---|
| (minun) taloni | mun talo | my house |
| (sinun) talosi | sun talo(s)/talos | your (sg) house |
| (hänen) talonsa | sen talo | his/her house |
| (meidän) talomme | meiän talo | our house |
| (teidän) talonne | teiän talo | your (pl) house |
| (heidän) talonsa | niitten/niien talo | their house |
Here, the pronoun of the literary form is also shown.
Notice one fact: Finnish has no possessive adjectives. The pronouns are regularly inflected, like if "I's house", "you's house", "we's house".
However, the suffixes -s, -nsa and -nne are used to avoid repeating a pronoun, e.g. "He took his hat and left" is Se otti lakkinsa ja lähti. (The translation from English *Se otti sen lakin ja lähti would mean "He took his/her hat and left" or "He took the (specific) hat and left".)
Read more about this topic: Colloquial Finnish
Famous quotes containing the word possessive:
“The narcissistic, the domineering, the possessive woman can succeed in being a “loving” mother as long as the child is small. Only the really loving woman, the woman who is happier in giving than in taking, who is firmly rooted in her own existence, can be a loving mother when the child is in the process of separation.”
—Erich Fromm (20th century)