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Questions & Answers about Kirjastossa on nainen.
Why doesn't the Finnish sentence have a word for "there"?
Finnish doesn't use a word like "there" to introduce these kinds of sentences. Instead, it puts the location first (kirjastossa), followed by the verb (on), and then the thing or person being talked about (nainen). Literally, the sentence says "In the library is a woman."
What does the ending -ssa on kirjastossa mean?
The ending -ssa is the Finnish way of saying "in" or "inside" (called the inessive case). When added to the base word kirjasto (library), it creates kirjastossa (in the library).
How do we know it means "a woman" instead of "the woman" since Finnish has no words for "a" or "the"?
In Finnish, word order often gives us that clue. Because nainen comes at the end of this location-first sentence, it introduces new information. In English, we express this new information by using "a" (a woman).