Log inSign up

Pihalla on sata lintua.

Pihalla on sata lintua.
There are a hundred birds in the yard.
From Lesson 23:Negative possession (ei ole)·Finnish

Breakdown of Pihalla on sata lintua.

olla
to be
piha
yard
lintu
bird
sata
one hundred

Questions & Answers about Pihalla on sata lintua.

Why does the sentence start with Pihalla instead of the birds?
In Finnish, sentences that express 'there is' or 'there are' usually start with the location. Pihalla is piha (yard) plus the ending -lla (on/at). Finnish doesn't use a dummy word like 'there', so putting the location first sets up this meaning naturally.
Since there are a hundred birds, why do we use on (is) instead of ovat (are)?
In these 'there is/are' sentences, the verb is always the singular on, no matter how many things are at the location. Finnish literally says 'On the yard is a hundred birds'.
Why is the word for bird lintua rather than just lintu?
In Finnish, any number greater than one must be followed by the partitive case. Lintua is the partitive singular form of lintu (bird). You can think of it as saying 'a hundred of bird'.

Learn Pihalla on sata lintua and more in Finnish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Finnish →