LESSON NOTES

Learn Finnish in Three Minutes #14Talking about possessions

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 14

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FI NNI S HPOD101.COM LEARN FI NNI S H I N THREE MI NUTES #14 - TALKI NG ABOUT POS S ES S I ONS 2

GRAMMAR

The focus of this lesson is the verb "to have" in Finnish

Topic 1: How to say you own something

Sentence from the lesson: Onko sinulla auto? "Do you have a car?"

1. Onko sinulla auto? "Do you have a car?" Let’s take a closer look at this question. Onko has the base word on, which is a conjugation of the verb olla. The ending -ko is used when you want to turn the word into a question. sinulla is the word sinä, "you" with the ending -lla indicating possession. Next is auto, which means "a car"

2. So when you want to talk about possession, you always use the verb olla in the form of on. And you have to conjugate the pronoun by adding -lla to the end. Minulla on, "I have", sinulla on, "you have" hänellä on, "he/she has", meillä on, "we have", teillä on, "you have", heillä on, "they have". Just remember these conjugations and you will have no problem talking about possessions.

3. So if you *do* have a car, how can you answer this question? Now that you know how to conjugate, it couldn’t be easier! Just start with Minulla on and add the noun. So in this case, when you’re asked Onko sinulla auto? you would say Minulla on auto, "I have a car." Let’s take another example. If your friend asks you, Onko sinulla koira? they want to know if you have a dog. If you do, how would you answer? Just simply, Kyllä, minulla on koira. "Yes, I have a dog." Adding Kyllä, which means "yes", to the beginning will make it sounds more natural!

FI NNI S HPOD101.COM LEARN FI NNI S H I N THREE MI NUTES #14 - TALKI NG ABOUT POS S ES S I ONS 3

Topic 2: How to use 'to have' in other situations

Sentence from the lesson:

Minulla on nälkä. "I am

Language Tip!

Here’s one more common way to use Minulla on, that’s somewhat different from English. Minulla on sinua ikävä. Could you guess what this means? Ikävä in itself can mean "tiresome" or "boring", or like in this sentence, "longing". Minulla on sinua ikävä means "I miss you". Or, Minulla on koti-ikävä, which would mean "I am homesick", or "I miss home"."