joku
Finnish
Etymology
jo- + ku-. Originally an old compound of two pronominal stems, but is practically never considered a compound by speakers.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈjoku/, [ˈjo̞ku]
- Rhymes: -oku
- Syllabification(key): jo‧ku
Pronoun
joku
Determiner
joku
Usage notes
- In colloquial Finnish, the forms of jokin (used to refer to non-human things in the standard language) and joku (used to refer to humans in the standard language) have merged, especially when used as modifiers (for example joku mies / joku pöytä (“some man / some table”), joku meistä / joku niistä pöydistä (“one of us / one of the tables”). In referring to both humans and non-human things, joku is used as a modifier in everyday speech and writing in the nominative singular (joku) and genitive singular (jonkun) and the nominative and accusative plural (jotkut), but the forms of jokin are used in all other grammatical cases to refer to both humans and non-human things. When used alone, not as modifiers, the forms of joku and jokin are however usually still distinguished, even in everyday speech, in the nominative singular/plural, genitive singular and the partitive singular/plural.[1][2] This is shown by the following examples of colloquial usage:
- joku mies tuli / antoi sen jollekin miehelle ― some man came / gave it to some man
- joku tuli / antoi sen jollekin ― someone came / gave it to someone
- joku pöytä meni rikki / laita se jollekin pöydälle ― some table broke / put it on some table
- jokin meni rikki / laita se jollekin ― something broke / put it on something
- and the following examples of formal (standard language) usage:
- joku mies / jollekulle miehelle ― some man came / to some man
- jokin pöytä / jollekin pöydälle ― some table / onto some table
Inflection
- Case suffixes are regular. Both the parts get the case suffix. Some cases are practically never used (those forms are in brackets in the table). The lative and causative cases are used as adverbs with completely different meanings than "some" or "someone".
Declension of joku
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Related terms
Pronouns with same stems:
See also
References
Latvian
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