PRONOUNS.
Personal Pronouns.
The personal pronouns are always employed when there is any emphasis on them in English; otherwise, they are mostly omitted, the termination of the verb indicating the person with sufficient clearness. Thus one says, Minä olen sen tehnyt, et sinä, I did it, not you; but Tahtoisin lähteä huomenna, jos ette pane vastaan, I should like to leave to-morrow if you have no objection.
If the subject of both a principal and subordinate sentence is a pronoun of the first or second person, it is always omitted in the subordinate sentence. Ottakaa mitä tahdotte, take what you like. Hän sanoi ettei tunne tätä miestä, he said he did not know the man.
Sinä and Te are used with much the same distinction as Du and Sie in German, that is to say, the plural is used out of politeness when speaking with anyone but inferiors or intimate friends.
Possessive Pronouns.
There are no pronominal adjectives in Finnish corresponding to my, thy, etc. Their place is supplied (a) by the genitive of the personal pronoun, (b) more frequently by the pronominal affixes.
When the possessive pronoun is emphatic, both the genitive and the affix are used, and in the Bible this construction is frequent, even when there is no particular emphasis. As a rule, however, the affix alone is sufficient in the 1st and 2nd persons.
The affix of the 3rd person, however, is used alone only when it refers to the subject of the principal verb; for instance, Hän ei nähnyt vaimoansa, he has not seen his wife; but Ettekö nähneet hänen vaimoansa? have you not seen his wife? Similarly, He has not seen his (another person’s) wife must be rendered, Hän ei nähnyt hänen vaimoansa.
Such a sentence as that is mine is rendered by Se on minun. Ei minun oppini ole minun, my doctrine is not mine.