One of the first things language learners face in a new language is the personal pronouns. They are usually presented to beginners with the equivalent of the verb “to be”. And that’s what you’ll find here, too. Read on to learn the Finnish personal pronouns.
What is a personal pronoun?
If you are wondering what a personal pronoun is, I’ll give you an example here. In this image, two people meet each other for the first time and introduce themselves.
The simplest way to introduce yourself is to say minä olen + your name:
Minä olen Olli. = I am Olli.
Minä, “I”, is a personal pronoun. In spoken Finnish/dialect, this is often different. One common way is to say:
Mä oon Olli. = I am Olli.
Notice how the personal pronoun and the verb (here: “to be”) can change quite a bit. Minä becomes mä in this dialect (often used in Helsinki region, for example). This is very common in Finnish. Dialects can change the word a lot, and using dialect is very common. That’s why I’m teaching you a “spoken Finnish” alternative in the video below.
Singular
1. person singular
minä = I
2. person singular
sinä = you
3. person singular
hän = he/she
Plural
1. person plural
me = we
2. person plural
te = you (more than 1 person)
3. person plural
he = they
And now, some examples.
Watch this video to learn the Finnish personal pronouns in the nominative + the verb OLLA (“to be”) in example sentences: