Learning how to use personal pronouns is one of the first steps in mastering Finnish grammar. In this brief lesson, you’ll discover how to say “I”, “you”, “he”, “we” and more in Finnish, with a clear table and audio examples. These pronouns are essential for everyday conversation and sentence construction.
Finnish Personal Pronouns
| English | Finnish with pronunciation volume_down |
|---|---|
| I | minä |
| you (singular) | sinä |
| he / she | hän |
| we | me |
| you (plural) | te |
| they | he |
What Makes Finnish Personal Pronouns Unique?
- No gender distinction: Finnish does not differentiate between “he” and “she.” The pronoun hän refers to both men and women. Similarly, he means “they” regardless of gender.
- Colloquial variations: In spoken Finnish, many personal pronouns are shortened. For example, minä (I) becomes mä, and sinä (you) becomes sää or sä depending on the region. These are common in casual speech but not used in formal writing.
- Case endings apply: Finnish is an inflected language. That means pronouns change form depending on their grammatical role. For example, “minä” (I) becomes “minut” (me, accusative) or “minun” (my, genitive). This is something learners encounter when moving deeper into grammar.
- Dropping the subject: Finnish often omits personal pronouns in casual or familiar speech because the verb form already indicates the subject. For example, “I speak” is simply puhun, without minä.
Practice and Progress
Learning personal pronouns is essential for building full Finnish sentences. These short but powerful words will come up again and again as you study verbs and sentence structure. Don’t forget to listen to the audio and practice out loud.
Next, you might want to explore other grammar topics such as possessive pronouns in Finnish or continue with our free Finnish grammar lessons.