Breakdown of Poika on nälkäinen, ja tyttö on väsynyt.
olla
to be
väsynyt
tired
ja
and
poika
boy
tyttö
girl
nälkäinen
hungry
Questions & Answers about Poika on nälkäinen, ja tyttö on väsynyt.
Why is there a comma before ja?
In Finnish, you use a comma before ja (and) when it connects two complete mini-sentences that have different subjects. The first part is about the boy (poika) and the second is about the girl (tyttö). If they shared the same subject, like Poika on nälkäinen ja väsynyt (The boy is hungry and tired), you would not use a comma.
I usually see people say minulla on nälkä for being hungry. Why is it nälkäinen here?
Nälkäinen is an adjective meaning hungry, while nälkä is a noun meaning hunger. You can express hunger in two ways in Finnish: using the adjective like in this sentence (Poika on nälkäinen), or using the have structure with the noun (Pojalla on nälkä = The boy has hunger). Both are correct and very common!
Does the word väsynyt change depending on who is tired?
Yes! Väsynyt (tired) acts as an adjective here, so it needs to match the word it describes. Since tyttö is a single person, väsynyt is in the singular form. If we were talking about multiple girls, the adjective would change to the plural form (väsyneet).
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