Hän on Saksasta, ei Suomesta.

Questions & Answers about Hän on Saksasta, ei Suomesta.

Why does Saksa become Saksasta, but Suomi becomes Suomesta?
The ending -sta means from. For Saksa (Germany), you just add it directly to the end. However, many Finnish words ending in -i, like Suomi (Finland), change the -i to an -e- before you can attach grammar endings. That is why it becomes Suomesta.
Why do both of these words take the -sta ending instead of -stä?
This is because of vowel harmony. Since Saksa has the back vowel a, and Suomi has the back vowels u and o, they both require the back-vowel ending -sta. You only use -stä if the word has front vowels like ä, ö, or y.
Why does the second part say just ei Suomesta instead of ei ole Suomesta?
Just like in English, you do not have to repeat the verb to be. Instead of saying 'He is from Germany, he is not from Finland', you can just use the negative word ei (not) by itself for the second part.
Does Hän only mean he?
No, Finnish does not have separate gendered pronouns. The word Hän means both he and she. You can usually tell which one is meant from the context of the conversation.

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