These Finnish lessons were written by Josh Pirie.
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Possession in Finnish is expressed using either the genitive pronoun before the noun or the possessive suffix at the end of the noun, or both. They are as follows:
minun ___-ni meidän ___-mme
sinun ___-si teidän ___-nne
hänen __V-Vn* heidän __V-Vn (where V = any vowel)
In each use, the suffix is added to the form of the noun, in whichever case it happens to be, unless there is an -n or -t ending, of which there happen to be a lot in Finnish. In such cases, the -n or -t drops before the suffix is added. When adding to a nominative or genitive (or accusative that looks like a genitive), strong grade is present or re-inserted. If in the third person, there are already two vowels, then a different ending is added: -nsa/-nsä. "Come to our house!" would then be expressed Tule taloomme! where nominative talo > genitive talon > illative taloon + -mme > taloomme. One could also say Tule meidän taloomme!
*Vowel prolongation is never used in the nominative singular. Use the -nsa/-nsä ending, to avoid making the nominative sound like the illative.
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