Breakdown of Hän on suomalainen, ja minä olen englantilainen.
olla
to be
minä
I
suomalainen
Finnish / Finn
englantilainen
English / English person
Questions & Answers about Hän on suomalainen, ja minä olen englantilainen.
Does hän mean 'he' or 'she'?
Finnish pronouns do not have gender. The word hän can mean 'he' or 'she'. The English translation says 'He is Finnish' simply because it has to pick one, but without extra context, this sentence could just as easily mean 'She is Finnish'.
Why does the verb change from on to olen?
Why aren't suomalainen and englantilainen capitalized like they are in English?
In Finnish, nationalities, languages, and words for people from a specific country are always written with lowercase letters. You only capitalize them if they appear at the very beginning of a sentence.
Is it necessary to include the word minä, or could I just say 'ja olen englantilainen'?
You can completely drop minä here! Because the verb form olen already makes it perfectly clear that 'I' am the subject, saying ja olen englantilainen is perfectly natural. However, you cannot drop hän before on, because on is also used for 'it' (se) and needs the pronoun to be clear.