Possessive suffixes and plurals

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Phineas
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:08 pm

Possessive suffixes and plurals

Post by Phineas » Sat Dec 15, 2012 3:44 pm

My Finnish text tells me that "there is no distinction between singular and plural possession,"
and gives several examples like "minun kirjani" for "my book" or "my books." A few pages
further on, I come across the sentence "Heidän lapsensa ovat minun serkkujani." The last
word seems to be a possessive suffix attached to the partitive plural. Is this correct? If so,
why do we need the plural if the "ni" is attached?



Possessive suffixes and plurals

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007
Posts: 632
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:01 pm

Re: Possessive suffixes and plurals

Post by 007 » Sat Dec 15, 2012 5:06 pm

Minun kirjani = kirjani = my book
Minun kirjoja = kirjojani = my books

when it states there's no distinction between singular or plural possession, it means that -ni, -nsa etc. remains unchanged irrespective of the word's singularity/plurality e.g. kirja-ni, karjoja-ni. Similarily serkku-ni, serkkuja-ni etc.
“Go where you are celebrated – not tolerated."
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Phineas
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:08 pm

Re: Possessive suffixes and plurals

Post by Phineas » Sat Dec 15, 2012 5:51 pm

007 wrote:Minun kirjani = kirjani = my book
Minun kirjoja = kirjojani = my books

when it states there's no distinction between singular or plural possession, it means that -ni, -nsa etc. remains unchanged irrespective of the word's singularity/plurality e.g. kirja-ni, karjoja-ni. Similarily serkku-ni, serkkuja-ni etc.
Thank you. The text is confusing on this point. To quote it: Notice that there is no distinction between
singular and plural possession. Kirjani can mean both "my book" and "my books."

Is this incorrect?

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jahasjahas
Posts: 899
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 11:08 am

Re: Possessive suffixes and plurals

Post by jahasjahas » Sat Dec 15, 2012 10:44 pm

Nominative + the possessive suffix looks the same in the singular and in the plural:

Minun kirjani on hyvä.
Minun kirjani ovat hyviä.

The other cases look different, though:

minun kirjaani (partitive singular)
minun kirjojani (partitive plural)

minun kirjassani (inessive singular)
minun kirjoissani (inessive plural)

etc.

Phineas
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:08 pm

Re: Possessive suffixes and plurals

Post by Phineas » Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:20 am

Got it. Thank you.


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