Breakdown of Ne ovat täällä, mutta nämä puut ovat ulkona.
olla
to be
mutta
but
täällä
here
ulkona
outside
nämä
these
ne
they / those (non-human) / they (of people)
puu
tree
Questions & Answers about Ne ovat täällä, mutta nämä puut ovat ulkona.
Why is 'they' translated as ne instead of he?
In standard Finnish, he is only used for humans. For animals or objects, you use ne (which is the plural of se, 'it'). Since this sentence contrasts with trees, the first 'they' also refers to non-human things. (Good to know: in casual spoken Finnish, people often use ne for humans, too!)
How do we form the phrase nämä puut (these trees)?
In Finnish, demonstrative pronouns like 'this' or 'that' must match the noun they describe. The singular for 'this tree' is tämä puu. Because we are talking about multiple trees, tämä changes to its plural form nämä ('these'), and we add the standard plural ending -t to the noun to make puut.
Why is the verb ovat used in both parts of the sentence?
The word ovat is the form of the verb olla ('to be') used for third-person plural subjects ('they'). Since both subjects in this sentence are plural (ne and nämä puut), they both require ovat.
Does the word ulkona (outside) need to be plural to match the trees?
No, ulkona is a location word telling us where something is, so it doesn't change based on how many trees there are. The noun and pronoun change to plural (nämä puut), and the verb changes to match them (ovat), but the location stays exactly the same.
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