kuin

See also: kuīn

Finnish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkui̯n/, [ˈkui̯n]
  • Rhymes: -uin
  • Syllabification(key): kuin
  • Hyphenation(key): kuin

Etymology 1

The instructive plural of kuka.

Conjunction

kuin

  1. (subordinating) as if [with conditional]
    Hän oli kuin ei olisi huomannut mitään.
    He behaved as if he hadn't noticed anything.
Synonyms
Derived terms

Particle

kuin

  1. (coordinating) as, like
    Se kävelee kuin ankka.
    It walks like a duck.
  2. (coordinating) as (introduces an equative comparison) (after yhtä when comparing to a nominal, after niin with adjectives, adverbials or verbs)
    niin pian kuin mahdollista ― as soon as possible
    Kissa on yhtä suuri kuin pieni koira.
    The cat is as big as a little dog.
    Risto oli puhunut Pekan kanssa yhtä usein kuin (mitä) päiväkirja antaa ymmärtää.
    Risto had been talking with Pekka as often as the diary lets one understand.
    Syö niin paljon kuin haluat.
    Eat as much as you want.
  3. (coordinating, with comparative) than (introduces a comparative comparison)
    Risto oli puhunut Pekan kanssa useammin kuin (mitä) päiväkirja antaa ymmärtää.
    Risto had been talking with Pekka more often than the diary lets one understand.
Usage notes
  • (than, comparative): There are two comparative constructions in Finnish.
Details of Finnish comparative constructions
  1. the particle construction with kuin (fixed word order: [comparative] + kuin + [comparee in the nominative case])
    SUBJECTCOPULACOMPARATIVEPARTICLECOMPAREE
    kissaonisompikuinhiiri
    cat-NOMCOPbig-CMPRthanmouse-NOM
    "the cat is bigger than a mouse"
  2. the locative construction in which the comparee takes the partitive case (word order not fixed, but unmarked is [comparee in the partitive case] + [comparative])
    SUBJECTCOPULACOMPAREECOMPARATIVE
    kissaonhiirtäisompi
    cat-NOMCOPmouse-PTVbig-CMPR
    "the cat is bigger than a mouse"
    • When the comparee and the comparative are single words, both constructions are common, and the locative construction is probably slightly more so, especially when the comparee is a common word (such as a personal pronoun).
    • As the comparee or the comparative gets longer, there is an increasing tendency to use the particle construction, which is the only option with relative clauses (like in the usage example above, directly under the definition).

Adverb

kuin (colloquial)

  1. how?
    Synonym: kuinka
    Kuin vanha sä oot?
    How old are you?
Derived terms
compounds

Further reading

Etymology 2

Noun

kuin

  1. instructive plural of kuu

Anagrams

Ingrian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *ku-. Akin to Finnish kuin and Estonian kui.

Pronunciation

  • (Ala-Laukaa) IPA(key): /ˈkui̯n/, [ˈkui̯n]
  • (Soikkola) IPA(key): /ˈkui̯n/, [ˈkui̯n]
  • Rhymes: -ui̯n
  • Hyphenation: kuin

Adverb

kuin

  1. how?
  2. how
    • 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 25:
      Kuin ono sooja vesi.
      How warm the water is.
    • 1936, L. G. Terehova, V. G. Erdeli, translated by Mihailov and P. I. Maksimov, Geografia: oppikirja iƶoroin alkușkoulun kolmatta klaassaa vart (ensimäine osa) [Geography: textbook for Ingrian elementary school third grade (first part)], Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-Pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 3:
      Töö saatta tiitä kuin suur ono maa, millaist hää ono formaa ja mitä ono hänen pääl.
      You will be able to know how the earth is big, what kind of shape it is and what is on top of it.
  3. like

Synonyms

References

  • Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 213

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

kuin

  1. alternative form of kyne

Volapük

Noun

kuin (nominative plural kuins)

  1. quintal (one hundred kilograms)

Declension

Declension of kuin
singular plural
nominative kuin kuins
genitive kuina kuinas
dative kuine kuines
accusative kuini kuinis
vocative 1 o kuin! o kuins!
predicative 2 kuinu kuinus

1 status as a case is disputed
2 in later, non-classical Volapük only

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