Editing Finnish grammar (section)

===Personal pronouns===
[[Personal pronoun]]s are used to refer to human beings only. Personal pronouns in Standard Finnish in [[Nominative case|the nominative case]] are listed in the following table:

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Personal pronouns
|-
! Finnish !! English
|-
! colspan="2"  style="background:#efefef;" | Singular
|-
|{{lang|fi|minä}} || I
|-
|{{lang|fi|sinä}} || you/thou
|-
|{{lang|fi|hän}} || he/she/they
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;" | Plural
|-
|{{lang|fi|me}} || we
|-
|{{lang|fi|te}} || you/yous(e)/y'all/you lot/ye
|-
|{{lang|fi|he}} || they
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;" | Polite
|-
|{{lang|fi|Te}} || you
|}

Because Finnish verbs are inflected for person and number, in Finnish [[standard language]] subject pronouns are not required, and the [[pro-drop|first and second-person pronouns are usually omitted]] except when used for emphasis. In the third person, however, the pronoun is required: {{lang|fi|hän menee}} '(s)he goes'. In [[spoken Finnish]], all pronouns are generally used, even without emphatic meaning.

In colloquial Finnish, the [[Animacy|inanimate]] pronouns {{lang|fi|se}} and {{lang|fi|ne}} are very commonly used in place of the singular and plural [[Animacy|animate]] third-person pronouns, respectively. Use of {{lang|fi|hän}} and {{lang|fi|he}} is mostly restricted to writing and formal or markedly polite speech as this clear distinction has never occurred naturally{{Clarify|date=January 2023|reason=Has the distinction never existed clearly historically, or is this only more recently the case?}} in the language. Do note the animals are marked as less animate and are therefore never referred to as {{lang|fi|hän}} or {{lang|fi|he}}. {{lang|fi|Minä}} and {{lang|fi|sinä}} are usually replaced with colloquial forms. The most common variants are {{lang|fi|mä}} and {{lang|fi|sä}}, though, in some dialects {{lang|fi|mää}} and {{lang|fi|sää}}, {{lang|fi|mnää}} and {{lang|fi|snää}} or {{lang|fi|mie}} and {{lang|fi|sie}} are used. On the other hand, {{lang|fi|me}}, {{lang|fi|te}} and {{lang|fi|he}} lack reduced colloquial forms, so variants such as {{lang|fi|myö}}, {{lang|fi|työ}}, and {{lang|fi|hyö}} of some eastern varieties are dialectal. Some common verbs, such as {{lang|fi|olla}} "to be" and {{lang|fi|tulla}} "to come", exhibit similarly reduced colloquial forms:

:{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Personal pronouns
|-
! Written/formal !! Spoken/colloquial
|-
! colspan="2"  style="background:#efefef;" | Singular
|-
|{{lang|fi|(minä) olen/tulen}}|| {{lang|fi|mä oon/tuun}}
|-
|{{lang|fi|(sinä) olet/tulet}}|| {{lang|fi|sä oot/tuut}}
|-
|{{lang|fi|hän/se on/tulee}}|| {{lang|fi|se on/tulee}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;" | Plural
|-
|{{lang|fi|(me) olemme/tulemme}}|| {{lang|fi|me ollaan/tullaan}}
|-
|{{lang|fi|(te) olette/tulette}}|| {{lang|fi|te ootte/tuutte}}
|-
|{{lang|fi|he/ne ovat/tulevat}}|| {{lang|fi|ne on/tulee}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;" | Polite
|-
|{{lang|fi|Te olette/tulette}}|| {{lang|fi|Te ootte/tuutte}}
|}

The second-person plural can be used as a [[T–V distinction|polite form]] when addressing one person, as in some [[Indo-European languages]]. However, this usage is diminishing in Finnish society.