Title: The Partitive Case and the Personal Pronouns
Course: Study PrepProg Finnish Language 1 > Section: 4 - Ruokaa

Read about one of the most unique Finnish cases.

The Partitive Case

Partitive indicates, among other things, the partiality of a grammatical object.

The sentence syön omenaa is normally translated as 'I am eating an apple'.

In contrast, syön omenan contains a so-called total object with the object in the genitive case, meaning that the entire apple would be eaten, and it could be translated as 'I eat an apple' or 'I eat the apple', depending on the context.

However, in many situations, partitive is simply the grammatical form required by the verb, as in Minä rakastan sinua 'I love you'. It is also used with numerals, e.g. kolme taloa 'three houses’. (Source)

The Partitive of the Personal Pronouns

Kuka? | Ketä?
minä | minua
sinä | sinua
hän | häntä
me | meitä
te | teitä
he | heitä

Kuka on sinun poikaystävä/tyttöystävä? Hän on Antti/Anni.

Ketä sinä rakastat? Minä rakastan häntä.