Classical Nahuatl

Suffix

-ni

1. Marks a verb's habitual or customary present tense.

Curripaco

Suffix

-ni

1. third person singular masculine patient marker

Reference

• Swintha Danielsen, Tania Granadillo, Agreement in two Arawak languages, in The Typology of Semantic Alignment (edited by Mark Donohue, Søren Wichmann) (2008, ISBN 0199238383), page 398

Finnish

Suffix

-ni (appended to the (strong) vowel stem; the final -n of the genitive and illative singular and plural or the -t of the nominative plural is omitted)

1. (possessive) suffix used with or without minun (the genitive of the personal pronoun minä), corresponds to the English possessive pronoun my:

   (minun) kirjani = my book/books

   (minun) valaani = my oath/of my oath (partitive of vala) or my whale/whales (valas)

2. (possessive) appended to a genitive-requiring postposition that is after or without minun (the genitive of the personal pronoun minä), me:

   (minun) edessäni = in front of me

   (minun) takanani = behind me

3. (possessive) used in a participle structure replacing an "että" clause, preceded by a verb expressing, e.g., telling, claiming, asserting, confirming, thinking, wish, desire, seeming, when the clauses have the same subject "I"; appended to the active present participle in genitive singular when the action is concurrent with the main clause:

   Sanoin tekeväni läksyjäni.

   I said that I was doing my homework. (similar to the Latin structure accusativus cum infinitivo, e.g., "se dicit facere")

4. (possessive) used in a participle structure replacing an "että" clause, preceded by a verb expressing, e.g., telling, claiming, asserting, confirming, thinking, wish, desire, seeming, when the clauses have the same subject "I"; appended to the active past participle in genitive singular when the said/alleged (etc.) action antedates the main clause:

   Väitin tehneeni läksyjäni.

   I claimed to have been doing my homework.

5. (possessive) used in a shortened sentence expressing concurrent actions when the clauses have the same subject "I", appended to the inessive of the active second infinitive:

   Tehdessäni läksyjäni (minä) kuulin laukauksen ulkoa.

   (While) doing my homework, I heard a shot from outside.

6. (possessive) used in a shortened sentence expressing subsequent actions when the clauses have the same subject "I", appended to the partitive of the passive past participle singular:

   Tehtyäni läksyni (minä) kuulin laukauksen ulkoa.

   (After) having done / After doing my homework, I heard a shot from outside.

7. (possessive) used in a final shortened sentence expressing "in order to do" when the clauses have the same subject "I", appended to the long first infinitive:

   Tehdäkseni läksyni hyvin (minä) menin hiljaiseen huoneeseen.

   (In order) to do my homework well, I went into a quiet room.

8. (possessive) Used in some adverbs, when the clause has the subject "I".

   Olen hyvin pahoillani siitä.

   I'am very sorry about it.

9. (possessive) Always appended to a noun in the comitative case when the clause has the subject "I".

   Kävelin kirjoineni ovesta ulos.

   I walked with my books out the door.

Usage notes

• The possessive suffix -ni is compulsory in standard Finnish. In standard Finnish, when expressing ownership or before a postposition, the genitive form of the corresponding personal pronoun "minä" before the main word can be omitted. In colloquial Finnish, the suffix -ni is very rare and only the genitive form "minun" (or its colloquial or dialectal variants) is used before the main word.
• The shortened sentences — except for the participle structures — pertain mainly to standard Finnish, not to spoken Finnish. It is also to be noticed that the shortened clauses are never separated from the main clauses with a comma.

Derived terms

• (the reflexive pronoun, itse + -ni) itseni

See also

• -si
• -nsa / -nsä
• -mme
• -nne

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ni]

Suffix

-ni

1. (infinitive suffix) Used to form the infinitive.

   ad ‎(“give”) → adni ‎(“to give”)

Usage notes

• (infinitive suffix) Variants:

  -ni is added to most verbs

  ad ‎(“give”) → adni ‎(“to give”)

  -ani is added to back vowel verbs ending in -ít or in two consonants

  tanít ‎(“teach”) → tanítani ‎(“to teach”)

  akaszt ‎(“hang”) → akasztani ‎(“to hang”)

  bont ‎(“demolish”) → bontani ‎(“to demolish”)

  -eni is added to front vowel verbs ending in -ít or in two consonants

  veszít ‎(“lose”) → veszíteni ‎(“to lose”)

  ijeszt ‎(“frighten”) → ijeszteni ‎(“to frighten”)

  csökkent ‎(“reduce”) → csökkenteni ‎(“to reduce”)

  -nni is added to verbs with variant stems

  vesz ‎(“buy”) → venni ‎(“to buy”)

  eszik ‎(“eat”) → enni ‎(“to eat”)

See also

• Category:Hungarian infinitives
• Appendix:Hungarian suffixes

Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic ـنِي ‎(-nī).

Alternative forms

• -i
• -ja

Pronoun

-ni

1. me (enclitic object pronoun)

Related terms

• jien, jiena

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• -sni

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *snīs ‎(“we”) (compare Welsh ni).

Suffix

-ni

1. 1st person plural emphatic suffix

Derived terms

Quechua

Suffix

-ni

1. First-person singular subject.

   rimay ‎(“to speak”) → ñuqa rimani ‎(“I speak”)

2. Epenthetic suffix inserted between consonant clusters.

   yachachiq ‎(“teacher”) +‎ -y ‎(“my”) → *yachachiqy → yachachiqniy ‎(“my teacher”)

See also

• -y

Sicilian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [nɪ]

Suffix

-ni

1. added to words that are stressed on the final syllable to move stress to the penultimate syllable

   tu → tuni ‎(“you”)

   ccà → ccani ‎(“here”)

Swahili

Suffix

-ni

1. Second person plural:

   you, (archaic) ye

2. With nouns, indicates location: in/inside, at, on

   nyumbani (at home, in the house)

   mezani (on the table)

Usage notes

• (second-person plural) Used in conjunction with the direct imperative to form the plural. With native (Bantu)/nativized verbs in -a, vowel changes to -e:

  Kisomeni (Read it!) (from soma)

  Jibuni (Answer!) (from jibu)

• (second-person plural) Used in conjunction with the class 1 (personal) object affix -wa- to disambiguate the second-person plural from the third person plural; verbs in -a change this to -e before the affix:

  Niliwasomeeni (I read to you) vs. Niliwasomea (I read to them)

Zulu

Pronoun

-ni

1. what

   Udlani?‎

   What are you eating?

   Yini lokhu?‎

   What is this?

Usage notes

Unlike other pronouns, -ni always appears attached to another word. However, it does have a copulative form yini.