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Saunassa on mies.

Saunassa on mies.
There is a man in the sauna.
From Lesson 18:There is / there are (kaupungissa on)·Finnish

Breakdown of Saunassa on mies.

olla
to be
mies
man
sauna
sauna

Questions & Answers about Saunassa on mies.

Why is there no word for "there" in the Finnish sentence?
Finnish doesn't use a filler word like "there" for these sentences. Instead, to say "there is [something] in [a place]", you just start with the location (saunassa), add the verb (on), and put the thing that exists at the end (mies).
If the sentence starts with the location, how would I say "The man is in the sauna"?
To say "The man is in the sauna" (talking about a specific, known man), you would use normal word order: Mies on saunassa. Starting with the location (Saunassa on mies) specifically translates to "There is a man..." and is used to introduce new, unknown information.
What does the -ssa ending on saunassa mean?
The -ssa ending is the Finnish way of saying "in" or "inside". Instead of using a separate word like "in" before the noun, Finnish attaches this ending directly to the word sauna.
Does the word mies need any special endings here?
No, mies (man) is in its basic dictionary form. In sentences that introduce a single, countable thing into a location, that thing is the subject and stays in its basic, unchanged form.

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