Breakdown of Te olette tuolla, ja koira on täällä.
olla
to be
koira
dog
ja
and
täällä
here
te
you (plural/formal)
tuolla
over there
Questions & Answers about Te olette tuolla, ja koira on täällä.
Does te olette always mean "you" as in multiple people?
Usually, yes. It is the plural "you." However, te can also be used as a formal, polite way to address a single person (like speaking to an elderly person or a customer in formal settings). In everyday Finnish, you'll mostly use it when talking to a group.
Can I leave out the word te and just say Olette tuolla?
Yes! Just like with minä (I) and sinä (you singular), you can safely drop the plural pronouns me (we) and te (you plural). The -tte ending on the verb olette already makes it perfectly clear who you are talking about.
Why does the verb change from olette to on in the second part of the sentence?
The verb olla (to be) has to match its subject. In the first half, the subject is te (you plural), which pairs with olette. In the second half, the subject is koira (the dog). Since the dog is a single, third-party thing (like "he", "she", or "it"), it takes the third-person singular form, which is on.
I noticed both tuolla (over there) and täällä (here) end in -llä. Is that a coincidence?
Not at all! The -lla / -llä ending in Finnish is a grammatical case used to talk about locations (often translating to "on" or "at"). For these specific words, the ending is built right in to indicate the place where someone or something currently is.
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