9. Plural pronouns and verbs

So far we only learned the singular pronouns: minä, sinä, hän, tämä, se. (I, you, he/she, this, it)
All of them have a plural version too, for speaking about several people or things. Here are they:
Me We
Te You (plural)
He They (people)
Nämä These
Ne They (things)

So now we have two words for you (sinä/te) and two words for they (he/ne).
Here the rules are actually very easy: Sinä is used when talking about one (1) person.

Te is used when talking about two or more (2+) people.
He is used when talking about people.
Ne is used when talking about animals or things.

Now we have to learn how to inflect the verb in plural:
-mme is the ending for we
-tte is the ending for you (plural)
-vat is the ending for they  

For example, the verb puhua
puhua to speak
puhu speak
Me puhumme. We speak.
Te puhutte. You speak.
He puhuvat. They speak.  

The pronouns me or te can be dropped.
Puhumme. We speak.
Puhutte. You speak.

The pronoun he cannot be dropped, but it can be replaced with other words.
He puhuvat. They speak.
Isä ja äiti puhuvat. Father and mother speak.
Anne ja Tuomas puhuvat. Anne and Tuomas speak.
Kuvat puhuvat. The pictures speak.
Nämä puhuvat. These speak.
Ne puhuvat. They (not people) speak.

 
  Minä  (I)
  Sinä (you)
  Hän (He/she)
  tämä (this)
 

   

me (we)
te (you)
he (they)
nämä (these)

He they, when talking about people
He ovat (They are)
He katsovat They watch
He istuvat They sit
He tanssivat They dance
He sanovat They say

Ne, they when talking about animals or things

Ne ovat (they are)

Ne katsovat (they watch)

Ne istuvat (they sit)

Ne tanssivat (they dance)

Ne sanovat (they say)

The next lesson:

10. NOT