Having

Formation

The genitive singular is formed by adding -n to the stem: talo → talon, Anna → Annan, opettaja → opettajan. The ending closes the last syllable, so a word with consonant gradation has the weak grade: Pekka → Pekan, Matti → Matin, äiti → äidin, pöytä → pöydän. A name ending in a consonant takes -in: Tom → Tomin. Words of other types form the genitive on their own stem: nainen → naisen, huone → huoneen, Suomi → Suomen; these stems are explained in the subject « Word types ».

Use

The owner in the genitive is placed before the thing owned, which is in its basic form: Annan kirja (Anna's book), talon ovi (the door of the house). The question is kenen? (whose?), the genitive of kuka.

Formation

The personal pronouns have their own genitive forms: minä → minun, sinä → sinun, hän → hänen, me → meidän, te → teidän, he → heidän.

Use

After olla the genitive means mine, yours, his…: Tuo kynä on sinun. It also answers kenen?: Kenen tämä on? – Minun. Before a noun, written Finnish also adds a possessive ending to the noun (minun nimeni, my name), which is taught at a later level; at A1, minun, sinun… stand after olla or alone. Hänen is both “his” and “her”.

Formation

“To have” is expressed by the owner in the adessive followed by on, the third person singular of olla, for every owner: minulla on, sinulla on, hänellä on, meillä on, teillä on, heillä on. A name or a noun takes -lla/-llä with the weak grade: Pekka → Pekalla, äiti → äidillä. The thing owned is the subject of on and is in its basic form.

Use

A question takes -ko on the verb: Onko sinulla auto? The short answer is On. or Ei ole. The verb is on even when several things are owned: Minulla on koira ja kissa.

Formation

The negative is ei ole for every owner, and the thing owned is in the partitive: Lauralla on iso puutarha. → Lauralla ei ole isoa puutarhaa. The partitive endings are explained in Some of something with -a or -ä: kahvia, maitoa, leipää and Some of something with -ta, -tä or -tta: teetä, olutta, vettä.

Use

The short negative answer is Ei ole. The question may have the partitive too, when the answer may well be no: Onko sinulla aikaa?

Formation

The existential sentence (“there is”) begins with the place in a local case, followed by on and the thing: Puistossa on kahvila. A countable thing is in its basic form; a substance (water, milk, bread) is in the partitive: Lasissa on vettä. In the negative, ei ole is followed by the partitive: Puistossa ei ole kahvilaa.

Use

The same pattern says what a thing contains or has: Talossa on kolme huonetta (The house has three rooms). The thing comes after on, the place before it; a sentence beginning with the thing, Kahvila on puistossa, says where a known thing is: “The café is in the park”.

Use

A few states are expressed with the have-construction, not with olla and an adjective: minulla on nälkä (I am hungry), jano (thirsty), kiire (in a hurry), kylmä (cold), kuuma (hot). The person is in the adessive. In the negative, nälkä, jano, kylmä and kuuma are in their basic form: ei ole nälkä. Kiire takes either form: ei ole kiire or ei ole kiirettä.