The Question Every Finn Will Ask You
Mistä sinä olet kotoisin? — Where are you from? You have been drilling this expression since the elative lesson, and it deserves its own explanation, because it does not work like English.
Kotoisin never changes. It is a frozen form (historically from home), and it always travels with olla:
| Olen kotoisin Suomesta. | I am from Finland. |
| Mistä sinä olet kotoisin? | Where are you from? |
| Hän on kotoisin pienestä kaupungista. | He is from a small town. |
The place always takes the elative -sta/-stä — the out of case you just learned — because origin in Finnish is literally the place you came out of.
| I am from a small town. | Olen kotoisin pienestä kaupungista. |
Kotoisin vs. plain mistä
Plain Mistä sinä tulet? asks about the trip you are on right now (from where are you coming?). Mistä olet kotoisin? asks about your origin — where you grew up, where you belong. Mixing them up is the classic learner slip.
| They are from the same country. | He ovat kotoisin samasta maasta. |
Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io
