Quantifying pronouns

The concepts of quantifying and indefinite pronouns

Quantifying pronouns express something about the size of the set of things referred to. At the extremes, kaikki (all) refers to all things in some class and ei mikään (no, nothing) or ei kukaan (no one) refers to none.

Quantifying pronouns are called indefinite pronouns in many grammars. This is correct in the sense that these pronouns do not refer to any specific entity, but it is incorrect in the sense that the meaning of e.g. kaikki is very definite.

The following table summarizes the quantifying pronouns and shows the size of the set referred to, as number of elements, or cardinality to use the set theoretical term. The symbol n denotes the size of the class referred to. Of course, when a word like joku is used in plural (jotkut), the cardinality is more than 1.

Jokin and joku

The indefinite pronouns jokin (some) and joku (someone) are used about a thing or a person that is unknown to the speaker or writer. They are used in standard language so that joku refers to a person, except in some special usage, and jokin refers to anything else. So we say joku mies (some man) but jokin tapahtuma (some event). Used alone, like a noun, the words jokin and joku correspond to “something” and “someone”.

In spoken language, however, the usage is mixed; typically, joku is used in a few case forms, jokin in other forms, e.g. joku tapahtuma and jonkun tapahtuman but jossain tapahtumassa.

In standard language, jokin is inflected so that the jo part is inflected and the kin ending remains unchanged or has its k lost in some forms: jokin, jonkin, jotakin (or jotain), jossakin (or jossain) etc. The word joku is exceptional: both the jo and the ku part are inflected: jonkun, jotakuta, jossakussa etc.

Nowadays, mixing jokin and joku is allowed even in standard language: instead of four-syllable forms of joku, cor­re­spond­ing forms of jokin can be used (and usually are used). For example, instead of joillakuilla we usually say joillakin.

The following table summarizes the inflection of jokin and joku. The joku forms in parentheses are usually replaced by jokin forms. The abessive and comitative forms are rather theoretical.

There is also some specialized usage of joku, both in standard language and in common spoken language:

• in a belittling meaning as an attribute in some types of sayings, e.g. on kuin joku johtaja (is like a director, behaves as if were a director)
• to indicate an indefinite small amount, e.g. vain jotkut kannattivat ehdotusta (only a few supported the proposal); this can be used even when the number of things or people are known

The permissive addition tahansa, hyvänsä, or vain

When an interrogative pronoun such as mikä (what), kuka (who), or kumpi (which [of two]) is followed by the word tahansa, hyvänsä, or vain, the meaning changes completely: for example, mikä tahansa means “anything whatsoever”. The sentence Kuka tahansa teistä voi tehdä sen means “Anyone of you can do it”, and Kumpi tahansa teistä voi tehdä sen means “Either of you two can do it”.

The basic pronoun in these expressions is inflected normally, while the adverb tahansa is kept the same; e.g. kenelle tahansa means “to whom whatsoever, to anyone you like”.

The adverb hyvänsä has the same meaning as tahansa.

The adverb vain has the same basic meaning in this context, but it may be interpreted as suggesting that the choice really does not matter. There is also a longer version of this phrase type with the verb haluta (wish; want) added after the adverb. The person form of the verb must match the form of the predicate of the clause. Example: Voit antaa tämän kenelle vain haluat (You can give this to anyone you want). The adverb vain can then be omitted: Voit antaa tämän kenelle haluat.

These adverbs can also be used in conjunction with derivations of interrogative pronouns, e.g. millainen tahansa (of whatever kind) and milloin hyvänsä (at any time).

Expressions for “one of...”

Finnish has a rich set of alternatives in expressing the idea “one of a set”. It distinguishes between “one of a set of two” and “one of a set more than two”, and it also makes other distinctions.

Consider the English expression “one of them did it”. If the set of suspects is known to consist of two people, a dual pronoun must be used. We can say toinen heistä teki sen or jompikumpi heistä teki sen. The latter expresses uncertainty: either one may have done it. The former may also be used when the speaker or author knows which one actually did it.

When there are, or may be, more than two suspects, there are several alternatives. They are illustrated in the following examples of saying “one of the men”:

• yksi miehistä: this uses the numeral yksi (one) in a pronoun-like manner; it is very common in spoken language, often with yksi shortened to yks
• joku miehistä: this emphasizes uncertainty, suggesting that the speaker or writer does not know which of the men the clause applies to
• eräs miehistä: as explained below, this suggests in principle that the speaker or writer knows which of the men is referred to, but in practice the expression is used more freely

Eräs and yksi

The pronoun eräs : erään partly corresponds to the English indefinite article “a”, but it is used much less, only when needed rather than as required by grammar. If you write eräs mies, it’s not quite the same as “a man” in English; rather, it makes it explicit that the man has not been mentioned previously but is known to the writer or speaker. In particular, if a sentence begins with a noun referring to something that has not been mentioned before, it is normal to use eräs before it in literary style, e.g. Eräs mies kertoi minulle… (A man told me…).

In colloquial language, the numeral for one, yksi, usually in the shortened form yks, is commonly used instead of eräs, e.g. Yks mies sano mulle… The pronoun eräs is rare in spoken language.

Even in literary style, yksi can be used in a pronoun-like manner in some contexts, though usually so that it can naturally be interpreted as meaning just “one”. Examples: yhdessä hetkessä (in a moment, suddenly), se oli yhtä juhlaa (it was magnificent; literally: it was of one celebration), he ovat yhtä mieltä (they agree; literally: they are of one mind).

In old style guides, eräs was described as referring to something known to the speaker or writer but not known to the listener or reader. For example, in the statement Helsinki on yksi maailman kauneimmista kaupungeista (Helsinki is one of the most beautiful cities in the word), yksi was recommended instead of eräs. Though the rules have been relaxed, yksi is still a better choice here. A more idiomatic expression, using the partitive plural and no pronoun-like word, is probably even better: Helsinki on maailman kauneimpia kaupunkeja.

The pronoun eräs has some specialized usage:

• To express an indefinite amount, which may vary by context. This includes a meaning like “a few”, e.g. eräitä vuosia sitten (a few years ago). In colloquial use, the amount can be large, when eräs is used more or less ironically, e.g. Olen eräitäkin kertoja sanonut (A have said quite a few times) and Olen eräänkin kerran katunut sitä (I have often regretted it).
• In insinuating remarks, where the implied reference is rather exact, e.g. Eräillä on varaa siihen, which means “Some people can afford it” implying that these “some people” include someone present or discussed.

Muuan

The pronoun muuan has the same meaning as eräs. It is mostly literary, used in fiction prose, and it has irregular inflection: the inflection stem is muutama-, and the partitive is muuatta. It is rarely used in singular except in the nominative. In plural (muutamat : muutami-), it coincides with the plural forms of the indefinite pronoun muutama discussed later in this section.

Tietty

By its form, tietty is a passive past participle of tietää (to know), based on the consonant stem of the verb, as opposite to the normal past participle tiedetty (known). However, tietty has a specialized meaning and can be classified as a pronoun.

Language guides used to treat tietty simply as a variant of tiedetty, so that it should be used only about something that is known by both parties of communication. Thus, tietty mies would refer to a known man, someone who is known at least to the speaker (writer) and to the listener (reader); in other contexts, pronouns like eräs and jokin were presented as preferred. However, tietty is used widely simply to indicate something as definite, much like we say “a certain …” in English. This is now accepted in standard language.

Toinen and muu

The pronouns toinen and muu both mean otherness, but they are used differently: toinen means generally “another one”, whereas muu often suggests the idea of “another one instead of this one”. For example, Onko sinulla muuta ehdotusta? (Do you have another proposal?) suggests that the first proposal is not feasible, whereas Onko sinulla toista ehdotusta? just asks whether there is another proposal, perhaps as one that could be accepted in addition to the first one. However, due to the meaning of the sentence, there is no difference e.g. in Sen teki joku toinen ∼ joku muu (It was done by someone else).

In phrases cor­re­spond­ing to correlative expressions “one ... the other”, Finnish uses yksi ... toinen or uses toinen repeatedy. For example, when discussing two objects, “one is red, the other is black” can be said as yksi on punainen, toinen musta or toinen on punainen, toinen musta. There is no big difference in meaning, but toinen ... toinen might be seen as presenting things in a more balanced way.

The word toinen is also used as an ordinal numeral, meaning “second”. Sometimes this creates real ambiguity. For example, toinen nimi can mean “another name” or “second name”. A question like “Do you want to watch another episode?” might be translated as Haluatko katsoa toisen jakson?, but this would suggest that it is about watching a second episode. The formulation Haluatko katsoa vielä yhden jakson? would avoid this, perhaps at the cost of changing the tone to mean “yet another”.

By its form, toinen is a derivation of the pronoun tuo (that). It is also used as a reciprocal pronoun in phrases like toisiaan and toinen toistaan (one another).

The dual jompikumpi

The pronoun jompikumpi is used instead of jokin or joku when there are exactly two alternatives. For example, when talking to two persons, asking Voiko joku auttaa minua? (Can someone help me?) would be a general question, whereas Voiko jompikumpi auttaa minua? (Can either of you someone help me?) would ask help from either of them.

Similarly, the statement Meidän on valittava jompikumpi vaihtoehto (We need to choose one of the two alternatives) implies that there are only two alternatives.

Both parts, jompi and kumpi, are inflected, using the stem jompa- : jomma- and kumpa- : kumma-. For example, the allative is jommallekummalle, as in Anna se jommallekummalle (Give it to one of the two).

The following table summarizes the inflection of jompikumpi. Due to its meaning, jompikumpi is normally used in singular only, but sometimes it appears in plural in conjunction with nouns used in plural form with singular meaning, e.g. jommatkummat sakset (either one of two pairs of scissors).

The negative-context pronouns mikään, kukaan, and kumpikaan

The counterparts of jokin and joku in negative statements are mikään and kukaan. Thus, e.g. English “anything” is normally jokin, e.g. Näin jotakin (I saw something), but it corresponds to mikään when the sentence has the negation verb (en, et, ei etc.), e.g. En nähnyt mitään (I did not see anything). The usage is described in more detail in section Expressions for nobody, nothing, nowhere etc.

In presence clauses, these pronouns normally appear in the partitive, due to the negative form of the clause, e.g. Täällä ei ole mitään (There is nothing here), Täällä ei ole ketään (There is nobody here).

The following table shows the inflected forms of these pronouns. They are the same as the forms of mikä and kuka with the kAAn or An suffix. The abessive, comitative, and instructive forms would be just theoretical and have been omitted.

The pronouns kukaan and mikään normally appear along with the negation verb, but they are also used in other contexts where the clause is negative in its meaning. For example, Voiko joku auttaa minua? (Can someone help me?) is a normal question, whereas Voiko kukaan auttaa minua? (Can anyone help me?) is more of a rhetoric question, implying a negative answer.

The pronoun kumpikaan, used together with the negation verb, is somewhat similarly the negative counterpart of jompikumpi, i.e. ei kumpikaan means “neither of the two”, and it is used both about people and about things.

The pronoun kumpainenkin is sometimes used instead of kumpikin. It is inflected regularly, just keeping the suffix kin intact; e.g. the genitive is kumpaisenkin.

The dual pronouns kumpikin and molemmat

The pronouns molemmat and kumpikin correspond to the English pronoun “both”. Syntactically, the former is used with the plural, e.g. molemmat miehet menivät, the latter with the singular, e.g. kumpikin mies meni. In practice, there is no big difference in meaning, but the latter might be seen as emphasizing individuality: “each of the two men went” as opposite to the more collective “both men went”.

In inflection, the word molemmat is the plural of molempi and it is inflected like comparatives of adjectives, e.g. the genitive is molempien. The word molempi does not appear in singular, except in the colloquial phrase molempi parempi (doesn’t matter; literally: each of the two [is] better).

When used with a noun that is used in plural only, even kumpikin appears in plural, e.g. molemmat häät ∼ kummatkin häät (both weddings). It is also used in plural when referring to two groups, each expressed using a plural noun, e.g. Kummatkin, sekä pojat että tytöt (both [groups], boys as well as girls).

The word kumpikin is inflected according to its structure: the pronoun kumpi and the uninflected suffix kin, e.g.

The pronoun kumpikin has a rarely used synonym kumpainenkin, which is inflected so that kin remains unchanged and the part before it has regular inflection of words ending with nen, e.g. the genitive is kumpaisenkin.

The indefinite pronouns pari, muutama etc.

The pronouns pari, muutama, jokunen, harva, moni, and usea can be called genuinely indefinite: they express an indefinite amount of things or people. They say something about the amount, but nothing exact, and their interpretations may vary. The pronoun eräs also has some indefinite use.

The word pari, when used as a pronoun, as in pari miestä, means two or three, or maybe a little more. The superficially more explicit pari kolme has the same meaning: it does not mean exactly two or three, but can sometimes be four, or maybe even five. The word pari is also a noun, meaning a pair, i.e. exactly two. Cf. section Approximate numbers.

The pronouns muutama and jokunen tend to mean “a few”—more than two, but with no fixed lower or upper bound. In standard language, the pronoun joku has a similar meaning when referring to things and not to people. Thus, Ostin muutaman omenan, Ostin jokusen omenan, and Ostin jonkun omenan all mean basically the same (I bought a few apples). However, such use of joku is rare and would be confused with the colloquial use of joku instead of jokin to mean “some, something”.

The word harva is an adjective (meaning “sparse” or “not dense”), but it is also used as a pronoun. E.g. harva ihminen or harvat ihmiset means “few people”. Thus, it refers to a small amount, emphasizing the smallness, relative to some implied reference. For example, harvat ystäväni probably refers to just a few people, whereas harvat suomalaiset could refer to hundreds of people—but a small amount relative to the total number of Finns. The word harva is often preceded by the adverb vain (only).

However, the phrase harva se... means “most...”, as an adverbial, e.g. harva se päivä (in most days).

Expressions containing muutama can be used in singular or in plural, with the same meaning, e.g. muutamassa paikassa = muutamissa paikoissa (in a few places).

The pronouns moni and usea mean “many” or “several”, with no well-defined difference between them, though moni could be seen as meaning generally more than usea. As the first part of a closed compound, moni is much more common.

The pronoun moni can be used both in singular and in plural, e.g. moni ihminen or monet ihmiset (many people) with a difference in style but not in meaning. The same applies to the pronoun usea, but it is mostly used in plural, e.g. useat ihmiset, though usea ihminen is possible, too.

The pronoun useimmat is the plural form of the superlative of usea. It means simply “most”, referring to the absolute majority (more than half), but it is indefinite as regards to the exact amount. In some interpretations, useimmat means great majority or even almost all.

Use of monta like a numeral and the double partitive montaa

The pronoun moni has regular inflection with e as the stem vowel (e.g. the genitive is monen) and with a consonant stem mon-, so that the partitive is monta. It is normally used in a manner similar to numerals, applying the partitive rule for the associated noun, e.g. Sain monta kalaa (I caught many fish), just like we say Sain kolme kalaa (I caught three fish).

However, since the rules also require the numeral in the partitive in contexts like En saanut kolmea kalaa (I did not catch three fish), people often add another partitive suffix to monta, too, in similar contexts: En saanut montaa kalaa (I did not catch many fish). This has now become accepted usage.

The universal pronouns jokainen, joka, kaikki, and kukin

The pronoun jokainen corresponds to English “every”. It is always used in singular, e.g. jokainen maa (every country), except when (rarely) used with a noun that is always plural in form, e.g. jokaiset häät (every wedding). When used like a noun, jokainen refers to everyone or every item in a set defined by the context or, in the absence of apparent contextual reference, to everyone in general, e.g. jokainen tietää... (everyone knows...).

Alternatively, joka can be used to mean “every”. In this usage, it is uninflected (unlike in its use as a relative pronoun, explained in the next section). For example, jokaiselle miehelle (to every man) is synonymous with joka miehelle, but the latter is somewhat poetic. When not referring to people, there is not much style difference: joka kaupungissa ∼ jokaisessa kaupungissa (in every town). On the other hand, there are several contexts where joka has special usage, in all styles, and cannot be replaced by jokainen:

• joka viides (every fifth) and similar expressions involving an ordinal numerals
• joka päivä (every day) and similar expressions of time, in the nominative, e.g. joka ilta, joka viikko, joka vuosi
• joka ainoa ∼ joka ikinen (every single one)
• joka paikassa (in every place, everywhere), joka paikasta (from every place), joka paikkaan (to every place) and similar constructs with nouns like suunta (direction), puoli (side; feature), e.g. joka suunnasta (from every direction)

The pronoun kaikki (genitive kaiken) corresponds to “all”. It can be used in different ways:

• As a standalone pronoun, used in a noun-like manner, kaikki refers to all in a set implied or expressed by the context. For example, Kaikki hyväksyivät ehdotuksen means “All accepted the proposal”. It may be clarified by another pronoun, e.g. me kaikki (we all). When referring to things, it corresponds to “everything”, e.g. Kaikki meni hyvin (Everything went well).
• As an attribute, it is normally used with a plural word but itself in singular in the base form, e.g. kaikki miehet (all men). In inflected forms, kaikki is in plural in such usage, e.g. kaikkien miesten (all men’s).
• It may also be used as an attribute to a singular mass noun, and then it means “all of...”, e.g. kaikki vesi (all the water). Even words like kansa (people; folk) may be treated as mass nouns in this sense, though expressions like kaikki kansa are somewhat poetic.
• In expressions of time, kaikki in singular means “the entire...”, “all the...”, whereas kaiket in plural (in sayings) means “all ...s”, “each and every...”. Examples: kaiken kesää (all the summer), kaiken yötä (all the night), kaiken aikaa (all the time), used as adverbials; kaikki kesät (all summers), kaikki yöt (all nights), kaikki ajat (all times), can be used as an adverbial or as a subject.

The pronoun kukin, like the English “each”, is similar to jokainen and joka but emphasizes individuality: kukin maa (each country) refers to every country, suggesting that each country has its own features, decisions, etc.

The pronoun kukin is inflected so that the suffix is appended to the ku part, before kin, e.g. kunkin, kussakin, kuhunkin. It is normally used in singular only, but sometimes it appears in plural in conjunction with nouns used in plural form with singular meaning, e.g. kutkin häät (each wedding). It is also used in plural expressions like kutkin valtiot, but this can be regarded as incorrect; the singular kukin valtio (each state) should be used instead. The following table summarizes the inflection of kukin. The abessive and comitative forms are very theoretical, and plural forms are rarely used.

The pronouns jokainen, kaikki, and kukin (but not joka) can also be used as standalone like a noun, cor­re­spond­ing to “everyone” or ”every thing”, “all”, and “each one”. When used that way about people, kukin is often emphasized by using the pronoun itse. For example, Itse kukin päättää… means “Each one decides himself/herself…”.

The identifying pronoun sama

The pronoun sama (same) can be classified as quantifying, since it specifies an identity of some kind. It is mostly used as an attribute, e.g. sama mies (the same man), but also in a noun-like manner, e.g. sama koskee tätä tapausta (the same applies to this case). It is used much like “same” in English, but there is some special usage, too:

• The phrase aivan sama or sama se or se ja sama or, more colloquially, ihan sama means “who cares”, “never mind”.
• The adessive form samalla can mean “at the same time” or “in the same occasion”.
• The inessive form samassa means “at the very same moment”.
• The instructive plural samoin (often classified as an adverb) means “the same way” or “also”. It is also used in the phrase kiitos, samoin (thanks, the same to you) when responding to wishes, when applicable.

The derived adjective samanlainen means “similar”. In practice, the distinction between sama and samanlainen is not quite clear. Often sama does not really mean identity, just essential similarity, e.g. in the slogan samasta työstä sama palkka (for the same work, the same salary/wages).