-nsa

nsa NSA -nsä Finnish Alternative forms fi -an possessive Etymology From fi urj-fin-pro *-sak *-nsak, from fi urj-pro *-sat *-nsa[t/k]. In Finnic, this was a third-person plural oblique possessive suffix (i.e. for a third-person plural possessor and all cases except the nominative singular). Third-person singular and plural possessive forms merged quite early on. Adopted in western dialects as the general third-person possessive suffix, since the non-oblique form urj-fin-pro *-sak would have lenited to urj-fin-pro *-hV(k), which was avoided. Pronunciation * Suffix possessive nsä to the (strong) vowel stem; the final -n of the genitive and illative singular and plural or the -t of the nominative plural is omitted fi possessive Third-person possessive suffix, used with the genitive forms of the third-person pronouns fi hän s (fi hänen) and fi he p (fi heidän): his, her; their only of people; its in some cases; see the usage notes below fi hänen kirjansa his/her book fi hänen äänensä his/her voice fi heidän kirjansa their book fi Kalle luki hänen kirjansa. Kalle read his/her book. [The book is not by or owned by Kalle, but some other person mentioned before.] fi possessive Third-person reflexive possessive suffix. fi Kalle luki kirjansa. Kalle read his (own) book. [The book is by or owned by Kalle himself.] fi possessive Appended to a postposition, when it modifies a word in the genitive case and a third-person personal pronoun is used: him, her; them only of people fi hänen takanansa behind him/her fi heidän edessänsä in front of them fi possessive Used in a participle structure replacing an "fi että" clause, preceded by a verb expressing e.g. telling, claiming, asserting, confirming, thinking, wish, desire, seeming, when the clauses have the same subject "he", "she" or "they" (only of people); appended to the active present participle in genitive singular when the action is concurrent with the main clause. fi He sanoivat saavansa rahaa. They said that they were receiving money. fi possessive Used in a participle structure replacing an "fi että" clause, preceded by a verb expressing e.g. telling, claiming, asserting, confirming, thinking, wish, desire, seeming, when the clauses have the same subject "he", "she" or "they" (only of people); appended to the active past participle in genitive singular when the said/alleged (etc.) action antedates the main clause. fi Hän väitti saaneensa rahaa. She claimed to have received money. fi possessive Used in a shortened sentence expressing concurrent actions when the clauses have the same subject in the third person, appended to the inessive of the active second infinitive. fi Saadessansa rahaa hän kuuli laukauksen ulkoa. (While) receiving money, he heard a shot from outside. or fi saadessaan, see the usage notes below fi possessive Used in a shortened sentence expressing subsequent actions when the clauses have the same subject in the third person, appended to the partitive of the passive past participle singular. fi Saatuansa rahaa hän kuuli laukauksen ulkoa. (After) having received / After receiving money, she heard a shot from outside. or fi saatuaan, see the usage notes below fi possessive Used in a final shortened sentence expressing "in order to do" when the clauses have the same subject in the third person, appended to the long first infinitive. fi Saadaksensa enemmän rahaa he vaihtoivat työpaikkaa. (In order) to get more money, they changed their job. or fi saadakseen, see the usage notes below fi possessive Used in some adverbs that include back vowels, when the clause has the subject in the third person. fi Hän oli hyvin pahoillansa siitä. S/he was very sorry about it. or fi pahoillaan, see the usage notes below fi possessive Always appended to a noun in the comitative case when the clause has the subject in the third person. fi Hän käveli kirjoinensa ovesta ulos. S/he walked out the door with his/her books. or fi kirjoineen, see the usage notes below Usage notes Usage notes In standard Finnish, even with the possessive suffix fi -nsa, the genitive forms of the corresponding personal pronouns fi hän and fi he before the main word can never be omitted, in order to clarify whether there is one owner or more. In colloquial Finnish, the suffix (like all possessive suffixes) is rarely used and only the genitive forms fi hänen and fi heidän (or their colloquial or dialectal variants) are used before the main word. A shorter form fi -Vn possessive -Vn (-an, -än, -en) exists, but it can only be used with certain conditions (see that entry for more). The short form can always be replaced with fi -nsa, but not necessarily the other way around. Both are accepted in Standard Finnish, but the short form is much more common when allowed. The short form is common, for instance, with adverbs requiring a possessive suffix: Examples of short third-person possessive forms Singular inessive fi kirjassansa → fi kirjassaan elative fi kirjastansa → fi kirjastaan adessive fi kirjallansa → fi kirjallaan allative fi kirjallensa → fi kirjalleen ablative fi kirjaltansa → fi kirjaltaan transitive fi kirjaksensa → fi kirjakseen essive fi kirjanansa → fi kirjanaan abessive fi kirjattansa → fi kirjattaan Plural partitive fi kirjojansa → fi kirjojaan inessive fi kirjoissansa → fi kirjoissaan elative fi kirjoistansa → fi kirjoistaan adessive fi kirjoillansa → fi kirjoillaan allative fi kirjoillensa → fi kirjoilleen ablative fi kirjoiltansa → fi kirjoiltaan transitive fi kirjoiksensa → fi kirjoikseen essive fi kirjoinansa → fi kirjoinaan abessive fi kirjoittansa → fi kirjoittaan comitative fi kirjoinensa → fi kirjoineen The combination of the personal pronoun genitive fi hänen or fi heidän and fi -nsa can be both the subject and the object of the clause: fi Hänen kirjansa on pitkäveteinen. Her/His book is boring. fi Oletko jo lukenut hänen kirjansa? Have you already read her/his book? However, if the word that acts as the possessor of the main word is anything else than fi hänen or fi heidän, the suffix fi -nsa cannot be appended if the main word is the subject of the clause: fi Tuolla on lintu. Sen sulat ovat valkoisia. There's a bird there. Its feathers are white. No possessive suffix may be added to fi sulat, because the possessor is fi sen, not fi hänen or fi heidän. fi Lintu sukii sulkiansa. The bird is preening its feathers. Here, the possessive suffix is present, because feathers are the object in the sentence. The shortened sentences — except for the participial structures — pertain mainly to standard Finnish, not to colloquial Finnish. It is also to be noticed that the shortened clauses are never separated from the main clauses with a comma. The participial uses, in particular sense 4, can be compared to the Latin accusativus cum infinitivo (e.g. la se dicit facere). Derived terms fi toisensa each other, one another See also fi -ni fi -si fi -mme fi -nne References Anagrams fi ans san. Sidamo Pronunciation sid /-nsa/ Determiner sid determiner clitics possessive determiners their See also References 383