Question 1

How is hotellissa formed from the basic word hotelli?

Accepted Answer

To say "in a hotel", you simply take the basic word hotelli and add the "in" ending, which is -ssa. Because hotelli is a regular, non-gradating word, you don't need to make any changes to the core word before adding the ending.

Question 2

Why does hotellissa use the -ssa ending instead of -ssä?

Accepted Answer

This is due to vowel harmony. The word hotelli contains the back vowel o, so its ending must also use a back vowel (a), making it -ssa. The vowels e and i are neutral; they don't change the vowel harmony if a strong back vowel like o is already present.

Question 3

The translation says "in the hotel", but how do we know it's not "in a hotel"?

Accepted Answer

Finnish does not have articles like "a" or "the". The word hotellissa can perfectly mean either "in a hotel" or "in the hotel". You figure out which one is meant based on the context of the conversation.

Question 4

Why do we use the verb asumme for "we live" here?

Accepted Answer

In Finnish, the verb asua means to live in the sense of residing in a physical place, like an apartment, a city, or a hotel. There is another verb, elää, which means to be alive or to experience life. Because we are talking about a place of residence here, asumme is the correct choice.

Me asumme nyt hotellissa.

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