Learn Finnish: Te ette ole täällä tänään.

In Finnish negative sentences, the negative word is actually a verb. This negative verb (ette) does the heavy lifting and takes the personal ending. The main verb (olla) drops its ending and uses a frozen form, called the connegative. For all persons in the present tense, this frozen form is simply ole.

Does te mean plural 'you' or formal 'you'?

It can be either! Te is the pronoun for plural 'you' (you guys), but it is also used as a polite, formal 'you' for a single person. The verb phrase (ette ole) remains exactly the same in both cases.

Could I use tässä instead of täällä for 'here'?

You could, but it changes the meaning slightly. Täällä refers to 'here' as a general area or place, like a building, city, or event. Tässä means 'right exactly here' in a very specific, narrow spot. For saying someone isn't 'here today', the general täällä is usually the most natural choice.

Could I change the word order and put tänään before täällä?

Yes! Finnish word order is quite flexible. Te ette ole tänään täällä is perfectly correct. Placing tänään at the very end of the sentence just puts a slight natural emphasis on the fact that they aren't here today specifically.