--- title: "ne" book_form: "he" translation: "They. Those." type: "word" category: "puhekieli" url: "https://finnishirl.com/words/ne" canonical: "https://finnishirl.com/words/ne" published: "2026-10-01" updated: "2026-10-01" author: "Andrey the Nomad" site: "Finnish IRL" license: "https://finnishirl.com/terms#ip" --- # ne URL: https://finnishirl.com/words/ne Book form (kirjakieli): he Translation: They. Those. Pronunciation: /ne/ Category: puhekieli Archetypes: spoken, people Region: Finland Register: neutral spoken Finnish Literal meaning: The plural demonstrative - those. Tone and safety: Safe in speech. Write he when the subject is people. Published: 2026-10-01 Quick answer: - Ne means they, or those. In speech it covers people as well as things, where writing would use he. - The verb changes with it. He ovat becomes ne on, because the third person plural ending largely drops out of ordinary speech. - That double change is why the clause can be unrecognisable even when you know every word in it. What it means: - Ne points at a group both speakers already have in mind, and in speech it does not care whether that group is people, cats or parcels. They, or those, depending on what is standing there. - Which is the joke inside Finland's most successful language export. In 2019 the Ministry for Foreign Affairs put hän, the third person pronoun with no gender in it, on billboards in London, Brussels and Berlin and offered it to the world as an idea. Hän is older than the first printed Finnish book of 1543. In daily conversation you will hardly hear it, and you will hear its plural he even less. Book form vs spoken form: - Written Finnish splits the job: he for people, ne for everything else. Speech merges them and uses ne throughout. - The verb changes too, and that is what people miss. Written he ovat jo lähteneet becomes spoken ne on jo lähteny. The plural ending on the verb goes, the singular form stands in for it, and the participle sheds its ending too. - So of the six personal endings a course drills, ordinary speech has stopped using the third person plural. There is no plural ending to catch, so stop waiting for one. - The possessive goes the same way. Heidän autonsa in writing, niiden auto or niitten auto in speech. How Finns use it: - About any group at all: colleagues, a couple, a family, a company, a football team. Ne asuu Tampereella. - As the vague they that every language seems to need. Ne sanoo et hinnat nousee. They say prices are going up, with nobody in particular being blamed. - The campaign was not wrong about that. Hän is what Finnish writes, and Finnish does get through an entire conversation about two colleagues without revealing whether either is a man or a woman. It just happens with ne. Tone and safety: - Neutral about a group who are not in the room. About people standing in front of you it can land as pointed, in the same way the singular can. - In formal writing, he. Ne about people in an official document reads as careless. Common mistake: - Waiting for ovat. Ne on jo lähteny has no plural marker anywhere in it, so an ear set to catch one loses the whole clause while the sentence moves on. - Producing he in conversation. It is correct, and it sounds like a written text being spoken aloud. - Assuming ne about people must be dismissive because it is the same word as the one for objects. Finnish has no grammatical gender and this pronoun carries no judgement with it. Examples: - Ne on jo lähteny. - They've already left. (written: He ovat jo lähteneet.) - Ne asuu Tampereella. - They live in Tampere. (written: He asuvat Tampereella.) - Niiden auto on toi punanen. - Their car is that red one. (written: Heidän autonsa on tuo punainen.) Mini dialogue: A: Tuleeks ne huomenna? B: Ne sano et tulee. A: Monelt? B: En tiiä. Kysytään. FAQ: Q: What does ne mean in Finnish? A: They, or those. In speech it is used for people as well as things. Q: What is the difference between ne and he? A: Register. He is the written form for people; ne covers both people and things in speech. Q: Why is it ne on and not ne ovat? A: The third person plural verb ending largely disappears in spoken Finnish, so the singular form stands in for the plural. Q: How do you say their in spoken Finnish? A: Niiden, or niitten. The written form for people is heidän. Q: Is it rude to call people ne? A: Not about a group who are elsewhere, which is ordinary speech. About people who are present it can sound pointed. Q: Didn't Finland promote hän as a gender-neutral pronoun? A: Yes, in a 2019 Ministry for Foreign Affairs campaign with billboards in London, Brussels and Berlin. Hän is real and it is what Finnish writes. Everyday speech across most of the country still reaches for se and ne. Related words: se, oon, ma, sa, mun, ei-oo, onks, meen Sources: - Spreading the word about equality, with the Finnish pronoun hän (thisisFINLAND, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland): https://finland.fi/life-society/spreading-the-word-about-equality-with-the-finnish-pronoun-han/ - VISK § 717 - grammatical properties vs. reference to people (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=717 - VISK § 720 - tämä, tuo, se, nämä, nuo, ne (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=720 - VISK § 716 - minä, sinä, hän, me, te, he (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=716 - VISK § 1289 - examples of the negative word failing to agree (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=1289 - Kielitoimiston sanakirja: ne, he (Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://www.kielitoimistonsanakirja.fi/#/ne