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Questions & Answers about Poika istuu puistossa.
How does the word puistossa mean 'in the park'?
The base word for 'park' is puisto. To say 'in', Finnish adds the ending -ssa directly to the end of the word, making it puistossa.
Why does it use the -ssa ending instead of -ssä?
This is because of vowel harmony. The word puisto contains the vowels u and o, which are 'back vowels'. Words with back vowels always take the -ssa ending rather than -ssä.
The translation says 'is sitting'. Doesn't istuu just mean 'sits'?
It means both! Finnish doesn't have a separate continuous tense (like 'is doing' in English). Depending on the context, istuu can be translated as 'sits' or 'is sitting'.
I don't see words for 'the' in this sentence. How do we know it's 'the boy' and 'the park'?
Finnish doesn't have words for 'a' or 'the' (articles). Poika can mean 'a boy' or 'the boy', and puistossa can mean 'in a park' or 'in the park'. We just use the context to decide which makes the most sense in English.