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Questions & Answers about Se on koira.
Why isn't there a word for "a" before koira?
Finnish doesn't have articles like "a", "an", or "the". Depending on the context, koira can mean "a dog" or "the dog". In a simple statement like this, "a dog" is the most natural English translation.
Does se only mean "it"? I thought I learned it means "that".
Se is a very versatile word! It acts as the basic pronoun "it", but it is also one of the three main demonstrative pronouns (along with tämä and tuo). It usually translates to "that" when pointing out something out of sight or previously mentioned, but here it simply acts as "it".
Shouldn't a pet dog be referred to as "he" or "she"?
In standard Finnish, animals are always referred to with se (it). The pronoun hän (he/she) is reserved exclusively for human beings. (Fun fact: in casual spoken Finnish, people often use se for humans too, but you should stick to hän for people and se for animals while learning the standard rules).
How does this sentence change if the dog is right next to me?
You would swap the pronoun to match the distance! If the dog is close by, you use tämä (this) to say Tämä on koira (This is a dog). If you are pointing at a dog further away, you would say Tuo on koira (That is a dog).