# hän
## Finnish
### Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *hän, from Proto-Finno-Ugric *sän. Cognates include Erzya сон (son).
In practically all dialects (except potentially Ingrian Finnish), se is the most common third-person pronoun for people, and this is also reflected in colloquial Finnish. hän was most often used in indirect speech (as a logophoric pronoun), potentially with a nuance of doubt or disbelief, although in southwestern, southeastern and far northern eastern dialects it was used more widely in subordinate clauses. The use of hän as a general third-person pronoun may thus be a literary feature.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈhæn/, [ˈhæn]
* Audio:(file)
* Audio:(file)
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -æn
* Hyphenation: hän

### Pronoun

hän
* (personal) he, she, one, they sg (only of a human being; gender-neutral)
** 1988 September 22, J. Karjalainen (lyrics and music), “Hän”, in Lumipallo, performed by J. Karjalainen ja Mustat Lasit:Hän, sai mut uskomaan, hän Sai mut toivomaan, hän Ja vielä enemmänShe made me believe, she made me hope, she and even more than that
* he, she, one, they, it (in indirect speech: referring to the subject of the main clause, regardless of whether they are a human being or not, i.e. logophoric pronoun)

#### Usage notes

* In standard Finnish, hän is generally not omitted, despite the verb showing both the person and the number (compare the usage of he (“they pl”)). This is in contrast to the first and second person pronouns which may freely be omitted, with the person being implied by the verb form.
* In colloquial and dialectal Finnish, the inanimate (demonstrative) pronoun se is mostly used instead of hän, the latter being reserved for certain particular uses such as to indicate that another speaker is being paraphrased. Yet in some others (such as Kven), both pronouns are used in the same role.

#### Declension

* Irregular. The comitative and instructive forms don't exist; the abessive is hardly used. To be more precise: the singular stem is declined like type 32 (sisar) in the singular cases, except for the accusative singular form hänet (see following note).
* In addition to the standard set of cases, hän and the other personal pronouns have a specific accusative form, hänet. This form would have been the nominative plural form of the first stem, if the word were not a personal pronoun.
* The shorter forms hällä, hältä and hälle exist for the adessive, ablative and allative respectively, but these are dated or jocular except in poetic use and some set phrases.
Declension of hän
noun case
singular
plural
nominative
hän
he
genitive
hänen
heidän
partitive
häntä
heitä
accusative
hänet
heidät
inessive
hänessä
heissä
elative
hänestä
heistä
illative
häneen
heihin
adessive
hänellä
heillä
ablative
häneltä
heiltä
allative
hänelle
heille
essive
hänenä
heinä
translative
häneksi
heiksi
abessive
hänettä
heittä
instructive
comitative

#### Synonyms

* se (colloquial)

#### Derived terms

* hänenlainen
* hänenlaisensa
* hän-kertoja
* hän-muotoinen

#### Descendants

* Kven: hän

#### See also
### References

* 1 2 Junttila, Santeri, Kallio, Petri, Holopainen, Sampsa, Kuokkala, Juha, Pystynen, Juho, editors (2020–), “hän”, in Suomen vanhimman sanaston etymologinen verkkosanakirja‎ (in Finnish), retrieved 2024-01-01

### Further reading

* “hän”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

## Ingrian
### Pronunciation

* (Ala-Laukaa) IPA: /ˈhæn/, [ˈhæn]
* (Soikkola) IPA: /ˈhæn/, [ˈhæn]
* (Hevaha) IPA: /ˈhæn/, [ˈhæn]
* Rhymes: -æn
* Hyphenation: hän

### Pronoun

hän
* (dialectal) Alternative form of hää
** 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 46:Toisille hän lapsille esimerkin näyttää.He sets an example for the other children.

### References

* Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 84
* Arvo Laanest (1997) Isuri keele Hevaha murde sõnastik, Eesti Keele Instituut, page 41

## Kven
### Etymology

From Finnish hän, from Proto-Finnic *hän.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈhæn/

### Pronoun

hän
* he, she (animate)

#### Declension

Declension of hän
singular
plural
nominative
hän
het
genitive
hänen
heiđän, heän
partitive
häntä
heitä
accusative
hänen
heiđät, heät
illative
hänheen
heihin
inessive
hänessä
heissä
elative
hänestä
heistä
allative
hänele, hänelet, hälle, hället
heile, heilet
adessive
hänelä, hällä
heillä
ablative
häneltä, hältä
heiltä
translative
hänenä
heinä
essive
häneksi
heiksi
abessive
hänettä
heittä :

#### Synonyms

* se

#### See also
### References

* Eira Söderholm (2017) Kvensk grammatikk, Tromsø: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, →ISBN, page 276

## Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Norse héðan, with influence from Middle Low German hen (“away”), both ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this”).

### Adverb

hän
* (often somewhat solemn) away, hence (and often by implication to somewhere else)
    Han gick hänHe walked away/hence (also a euphemism for died)
    Vi åkte hän till SäffleWe went away/hence to Säffle (redundant, somewhat poetic or jocular)
    Hän mot nya mål!Away towards new goals!

#### Synonyms

* hädan

#### Related terms

* hänföra
* hänseende
* hänskjuta
* hänsyn

#### See also

* bära hän

### Further reading

* hän in Svensk ordbok.

## Veps
### Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *hän, from Proto-Finno-Ugric *sän. Cognate to Hungarian ő. False cognate with Swedish han.

### Pronoun

hän (genitive hänen, partitive händast)
* he, she

#### Inflection
### References

* Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “он”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎, Petrozavodsk: Periodika