Appendix:Finnish enclitic particles
Finnish has a set of enclitic particles. These are particles that serve as clitics – they must be attached to another word and cannot be used on their own. These particles are listed under the category for Finnish clitics.
In Finnish, these particles are used as discourse markers, i.e. they are used in order to express emphasis, subjective views or impressions or, e.g., to give commands a different tone. In everyday speech, these particles may very often be used even if there were no intention to give some special message.
The particles are appended to the ends of the very first words of the clause. Note also that the particle -ko / -kö is mainly used in interrogative sentences.
These particles can also be combined for more specific nuances. These are the most common combinations, most others are rarely used:
- -kohan / -köhän: -ko + -han
- -kos / -kös: -ko + -s
- -pas / -päs: -pa + -s
- -pahan / -pähän: -pa + -han
- (less common than the previous) -hanpa / -hänpä: -han + -pa
The order of endings in nominal forms is: inflectional suffix first, then the possessive suffix and finally the clitic. For verbs likewise, inflectional suffixes come before the clitic.
The enclitics as well as possessive suffixes increase the number of possible inflections of a Finnish word. For example, there are 84 possible combinations of enclitics and possessive suffixes that can be appended to the word autoa (the partitive singular of auto).
autoa | autoahan | autoakaan | autoakin | autoako | autoakinko | autoakinkohan | autoakohan | autoakos | autoapa | autoapahan | autoapas |
autoani | autoanihan | autoanikaan | autoanikin | autoaniko | autoanikinko | autoanikinkohan | autoanikohan | autoanikos | autoanipa | autoanipahan | autoanipas |
autoasi | autoasihan | autoasikaan | autoasikin | autoasiko | autoasikinko | autoasikinkohan | autoasikohan | autoasikos | autoasipa | autoasipahan | autoasipas |
autoaan | autoaanhan | autoaankaan | autoaankin | autoaanko | autoaankinko | autoaankinkohan | autoaankohan | autoaankos | autoaanpa | autoapaanhan | autoaanpas |
autoansa | autoansahan | autoansakaan | autoansakin | autoansako | autoansakinko | autoansikinkohan | autoansakohan | autoansakos | autoansapa | autoapansahan | autoansapas |
autoamme | autoammehan | autoammekaan | autoammekin | autoammeko | autoammekinko | autoammekinkohan | autoammekohan | autoammekos | autoammepa | autoammepahan | autoammepas |
autoanne | autoannehan | autoannekaan | autoannekin | autoanneko | autoannekinko | autoannekinkohan | autoannekohan | autoannekos | autoannepa | autoannepahan | autoannepas |