että is Finnish "that" as a complementiser — the word that hooks a whole reported clause onto a verb: Tiedän, että hän tulee "I know (that) he's coming." It is grammatically one of the simplest words in the language, yet it hides three things English speakers get wrong: että is usually obligatory where English "that" is optional, Finnish does not backshift tenses the way English does, and the whole clause can be anchored by an anticipatory se ("the fact that…"). This page goes past the basics on the conjunction että page and drills those points.
What takes an että-clause
A wide family of predicates opens an että-clause: verbs of saying (sanoa, kertoa, väittää, luvata), thinking (luulla, uskoa, ajatella, tietää, muistaa), feeling (pelätä, toivoa, olla iloinen/pahoillaan), plus adjectives and nouns (on hyvä, että…, se tosiasia, että…). The clause keeps a finite verb and states a whole proposition.
Tiedän, että hän tulee huomenna.
I know (that) he's coming tomorrow.
Pelkään, että myöhästyn junasta.
I'm afraid I'll miss the train.
On hyvä, että tulit ajoissa.
It's good that you came on time.
Harmi, että et päässyt mukaan.
What a pity you couldn't come along.
Word order: normal, not verb-final
An että-clause uses ordinary word order — subject, verb, then the rest. Nothing inverts, and the verb does not move to the end. For English speakers this maps directly (English subclauses are also SVO), but it is worth stating plainly because learners with a German or Dutch background reflexively push the verb to the end, which is wrong in Finnish.
Luulen, että Anna asuu nykyään Tampereella.
I think Anna lives in Tampere these days. (subject–verb–rest, exactly as in a main clause)
Finnish keeps the original tense — no backshift
This is the single most useful thing on the page. English has a sequence of tenses: after a past reporting verb, the reported clause shifts back ("He said he was ill", "She promised she would come"). Finnish does not do this. It keeps the tense of the original utterance — the tense the speaker actually used — regardless of the reporting verb.
| Original words | Finnish report | Natural English |
|---|---|---|
| "Olen sairas." | Hän sanoi, että hän on sairas. | He said he was ill. |
| "Tulen huomenna." | Hän lupasi, että hän tulee huomenna. | He promised he would come tomorrow. |
| "Olin väsynyt." | Hän kertoi, että hän oli väsynyt. | He said he had been tired. |
Hän sanoi, että hän on sairas.
He said he was ill. (original 'I am ill' → present on stays; English backshifts, Finnish doesn't)
Hän lupasi, että hän tulee heti töiden jälkeen.
He promised he would come right after work. (present tulee = original 'I'll come', not a conditional)
The logic is that Finnish reports the proposition as it was framed: if the speaker said olen sairas (present), the report keeps on (present). You only use a past tense inside the että-clause if the original event was itself already past. So English "was/would" often lines up with a Finnish present — do not reach for a Finnish past just because the reporting verb is past.
se, että…: "the fact that"
An että-clause can be nominalised — turned into a noun-like chunk meaning "the fact that…" — by anchoring it with an anticipatory se. The pronoun se takes whatever case the main verb or adjective demands, and the että-clause spells out its content:
| Predicate governs… | Anchor | Example |
|---|---|---|
| subject (nominative) | se, että… | Se, että hän tuli, ilahdutti minua. |
| partitive object | sitä, että… | En voi sietää sitä, että minua komennellaan. |
| elative (pitää jostakin) | siitä, että… | Pidän siitä, että sanot suoraan. |
| illative (tottua johonkin) | siihen, että… | Olen tottunut siihen, että täällä sataa. |
Se, että hän ei soittanut, huolestutti minua.
The fact that he didn't call worried me. (se = subject)
Olen varma siitä, että kaikki järjestyy.
I'm sure (that) everything will work out. (varma jostakin → siitä)
Pidän siitä, että sanot asiat suoraan.
I like that you say things straight. (pitää jostakin → siitä)
The se is what lets an entire clause slot into a case-marked position. Without it, Olen varma että… is heard as loose or incomplete in careful Finnish — the verb olla varma wants an elative complement, and siitä provides it. English hides all of this because "that" and "of the fact that" look the same on the surface.
The comma
In written Finnish there is always a comma before että. Finnish marks the boundary between the main clause and the subordinate clause with punctuation, so the comma is grammatical, not decorative — even though English usually omits it.
Muistan hyvin, että lukitsin oven lähtiessäni.
I clearly remember that I locked the door when I left.
The referatiivi alternative
In compact or formal style, an että-clause after a verb of saying or thinking can be replaced by the referatiivi construction: a participle plus a possessive suffix, with no että and no comma. Sanon, että tulen → Sanon tulevani.
Luulen tulevani ajoissa.
I think I'll come on time. (= Luulen, että tulen ajoissa)
Hän sanoi olevansa väsynyt.
She said she was tired. (= Hän sanoi, että hän on väsynyt)
The referatiivi reads as (formal / literary); in conversation the että-clause is far more common. The trade-off between the two — and the rest of the reported-speech system — is covered on the reported speech page. Master the että-clause first; the participle is the elegant upgrade.
että is not "whether", and not the relative "that"
Two quick guardrails, treated fully on the conjunction että page. For an indirect yes/no question ("whether/if"), Finnish uses the -ko/-kö clitic, not että: En tiedä, tuleeko hän "I don't know whether he's coming." And for the relative "that" ("the man that called"), Finnish uses joka, not että: Mies, joka soitti…. Do not let English's overloaded "that" push että into either job. For purpose ("so that / in order that"), the word is jotta — see että vs jotta.
Common Mistakes
❌ Tiedän hän tulee.
Incorrect — the complementiser että is obligatory; you can't drop it as in English.
✅ Tiedän, että hän tulee.
I know (that) he's coming.
❌ Hän sanoi, että hän oli sairas. (original: 'I am ill')
Wrong tense — if the speaker said 'I am ill', Finnish keeps the present on: että hän on sairas.
✅ Hän sanoi, että hän on sairas.
He said he was ill.
❌ Olen varma, että kaikki järjestyy.
Nonstandard — olla varma wants an elative anchor: varma siitä, että…
✅ Olen varma siitä, että kaikki järjestyy.
I'm sure that everything will work out.
❌ En tiedä, että hän tulee. (meaning 'whether')
Wrong for 'whether' — an indirect yes/no question needs -ko: En tiedä, tuleeko hän.
✅ En tiedä, tuleeko hän.
I don't know whether he's coming.
❌ Luulen että hän tulee.
Punctuation error — a comma is required before että in writing.
✅ Luulen, että hän tulee.
I think he's coming.
Key Takeaways
- että introduces a finite complement clause after verbs of saying, thinking, feeling and after adjectives/nouns; it is usually obligatory (unlike optional English "that").
- Word order inside is normal SVX — no inversion, no verb-final.
- Finnish does not backshift: it keeps the original utterance's tense, so English "was/would" often maps to a Finnish present (sanoi, että hän on sairas).
- se, että… nominalises the clause as "the fact that"; the se takes the case the predicate governs (sitä, siitä, siihen).
- A comma precedes että in writing; the referatiivi (Sanon tulevani) is the compact, formal alternative.
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- että: The 'that' ClauseA2 — että introduces complement clauses after verbs of thinking and saying (Luulen, että hän tulee), builds niin … että results, and always takes a preceding comma.
- The Referative Construction: Sanoin tulevaniB2 — Compress an että-clause into a participle after verbs of saying and thinking: Sanoin tulevani ('I said I'd come'), Luulen hänen tulevan ('I think he's coming').
- että vs jottaB1 — How to choose että ('that', introducing a reported statement or complement) over jotta ('so that / in order to', introducing purpose) — two subordinators one letter apart.
- Reported SpeechC1 — Turn direct speech into indirect: että-clauses or referative participles, with faithful tense (no English backshift) and shifted pronouns and deictics.