Word
Mies ja nainen ovat kotona.
Meaning
The man and the woman are at home.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Mies ja nainen ovat kotona.
Why do we use the plural verb ovat when mies and nainen are both singular words?
The conjunction ja (and) links mies and nainen together to form a plural subject. Just like in English, "the man and the woman" equals "they", so the verb must be the plural ovat (are) instead of the singular on (is).
Does ja only connect nouns like it does in this sentence?
No, ja is a very flexible word! Here it connects two nouns (mies and nainen), but you can also use it to connect adjectives, verbs, or even two complete sentences.
The dictionary says "home" is koti. Why does this sentence say kotona?
Koti is the basic noun, but kotona specifically means at home. Finnish changes the endings of words to show location instead of using separate prepositions like "at" or "in".
Why aren't there any words for "the" before mies and nainen?
Finnish does not have articles like "a" or "the". Mies can mean "a man" or "the man" depending on the situation. Here, we translate it as "the man and the woman" because it makes the most sense in English.