Relative Clauses in Finnish

Overview

Relative clauses allow you to combine two sentences into one by describing or identifying a noun with additional information. At the B1 level, mastering relative clauses is an important step toward expressing complex ideas in Finnish. The main relative pronoun is joka (who, which, that), and it declines through all Finnish cases to match its function within the relative clause.

Finnish relative clauses work similarly to English ones: "The book that I read was good" becomes Kirja, jonka luin, oli hyvä. The key difference is that the Finnish relative pronoun must be in the correct case for its role in the subordinate clause — if it functions as the object, it takes genitive or partitive; if it is in a location, it takes a local case.

This topic connects the case system with sentence structure, making it a natural integration point for several grammar areas you have already studied.

How It Works

The relative pronoun "joka"

Case	Singular	Plural	Function
Nominative	joka	jotka	subject
Genitive	jonka	joiden	possessor / object
Partitive	jota	joita	partitive object
Inessive	jossa	joissa	location (in)
Elative	josta	joista	origin (from)
Illative	johon	joihin	destination (into)
Adessive	jolla	joilla	surface (on/at)
Ablative	jolta	joilta	source (from)
Allative	jolle	joille	recipient (to)

Formation

The relative pronoun agrees in number with its antecedent, but its case is determined by its role in the relative clause:

Main clause	Relative clause	Full sentence
Mies on lääkäri.	Mies asuu vieressäni.	Mies, joka asuu vieressäni, on lääkäri.
(The man is a doctor.)	(The man lives next to me.)	(The man who lives next to me is a doctor.)

Case examples

Case in relative clause	Example	English
Nominative (subject)	Nainen, joka puhuu, on opettaja.	The woman who speaks is a teacher.
Genitive (object)	Kirja, jonka luin, oli hyvä.	The book that I read was good.
Partitive (part. object)	Musiikki, jota kuuntelen, on jazzia.	The music that I listen to is jazz.
Inessive (location)	Kaupunki, jossa asun, on kaunis.	The city where I live is beautiful.
Allative (recipient)	Ystävä, jolle soitin, ei vastannut.	The friend whom I called didn't answer.

"Mikä" as relative pronoun

Mikä (what/which) is used instead of joka when the antecedent is:

• A pronoun (se, tämä, kaikki, jotain)
• A whole clause
• A superlative

Example	English
Kaikki, mikä on tärkeää, on täällä.	Everything that is important is here.
Se, minkä sanoit, oli totta.	What you said was true.
Paras kirja, minkä olen lukenut.	The best book I have read.

Examples in Context

Finnish	English	Note
Nainen, joka istuu tuolla, on sisareni.	The woman who sits there is my sister.	Nominative: subject
Kirja, jonka ostit, on pöydällä.	The book you bought is on the table.	Genitive: object
Elokuva, jota katsoimme, oli hauska.	The movie we watched was fun.	Partitive: ongoing/partial
Kaupunki, jossa asun, on Helsinki.	The city where I live is Helsinki.	Inessive: location
Ihminen, jolle annoin kirjan, kiitti minua.	The person to whom I gave the book thanked me.	Allative: recipient
Talo, josta muutimme, oli vanha.	The house we moved from was old.	Elative: origin
Opettaja, jota kaikki pitävät, jää eläkkeelle.	The teacher everyone likes is retiring.	Partitive: irresultative verb
Kaikki, mikä kiiltää, ei ole kultaa.	All that glitters is not gold.	Mikä: pronoun antecedent
Ihmiset, jotka puhuvat suomea, ymmärtävät.	People who speak Finnish understand.	Plural nominative
Bussi, johon nousin, oli myöhässä.	The bus I got on was late.	Illative: direction

Common Mistakes

Using wrong case for the relative pronoun

• Wrong: Kirja, joka luin, oli hyvä. (nominative instead of genitive)
• Right: Kirja, jonka luin, oli hyvä.
• Why: The relative pronoun's case depends on its role in the relative clause, not the main clause. Since "the book" is the object of "I read," it needs genitive (jonka).

Using "joka" instead of "mikä" with pronouns

• Wrong: Kaikki, joka on tärkeää...
• Right: Kaikki, mikä on tärkeää...
• Why: When the antecedent is a pronoun like kaikki, se, tämä, use mikä instead of joka.

Forgetting commas around relative clauses

• Wrong: Nainen joka istuu tuolla on sisareni.
• Right: Nainen, joka istuu tuolla, on sisareni.
• Why: Finnish punctuation rules require commas to set off relative clauses from the main clause.

Usage Notes

In spoken Finnish, relative clauses are sometimes simplified. The relative pronoun joka may be shortened or the clause restructured. However, in written Finnish, correct case usage for relative pronouns is strictly expected and is a mark of good language skills.

The choice between joka and mikä is one area where native speakers sometimes make errors too, especially with superlatives. Both paras, jonka and paras, minkä can be heard, but minkä is considered more correct after superlatives.

Practice Tips

1. Sentence combining: Take two simple sentences about the same noun and combine them with a relative clause: Mies on lääkäri. Mies asuu vieressäni. → Mies, joka asuu vieressäni, on lääkäri.
2. Case practice with joka: Decline joka through all major cases while constructing example sentences for each. This reinforces both case endings and sentence structure.
3. Description game: Describe people, places, and things using relative clauses: Tämä on ravintola, jossa syömme usein. Hän on ystävä, jolle voin kertoa kaiken.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Genitive Case — many relative pronouns require genitive or other case forms
• Next steps: Cause and Consequence Clauses — other complex sentence structures