Postpositions and prepositions
Postpositions are more common in Finnish than prepositions. Both postpositions and prepositions can be combined with either a noun or a possessive suffix to form a P-positional phrase.
Postpositions
Postpositions indicate place, time, cause, consequence or relation. In postpositional phrases the noun is usually in genitive:
| Postpositions | |
|---|---|
| Finnish | English |
| 'pöydän alla' | 'under the table' |
| 'joulun jälkeen' | 'after Christmas' |
| 'lasten tähden' | 'for the sake of the children' |
| 'jonkun puolesta' | 'on behalf of somebody' |
The noun (or pronoun) can be omitted when there is a possessive suffix:
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| 'olen _ ''vierellä|si' '' | '(I) am next to (you)' or '(I) am by (your) side' |
As with verbs, the pronoun can not be omitted in third person (singular or plural): "Olin __ mukanasi" -> "I was with you" vs. "Olin hänen mukanaan" -> "I was with him/her"
"Tulen __ mukaanne" -> "I will come with you (plural or polite)" vs. "Tulen heidän mukanaan" -> "I will come with them"
Prepositions
There are few important prepositions in Finnish. In prepositional phrases the noun is always in the partitive:
| Prepositions | |
|---|---|
| Finnish | English |
| 'ennen joulua' | 'before Christmas' |
| 'ilman sinua' | 'without you' |
Some postpositions can also be used as prepositions:
| Prepositions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Finnish | Equal Finnish | English |
| 'kylän keskellä ' | ' keskellä kylää' | ' in the middle of the village' |