Questions & Answers about Miksi te jäätte kotiin?
Why is kotiin used here instead of kotona? Doesn't the English sentence say "at home"?
In Finnish, the verb jäädä (to stay/remain) requires the location to be in a "to" or "into" form, rather than an "at" or "in" form. Finns think of it as leaving yourself into a place. So, you must use kotiin (into home) rather than kotona (at home).
Who is te referring to in this sentence?
te is the plural "you" (like "you all" or "y'all"). It is used when addressing more than one person. It can also be used as a formal, polite way to address a single person.
How do we get the verb form jäätte?
The dictionary form of the verb is jäädä (to stay). To make it match te (you plural), you use the verb stem jää- and add the plural "you" ending -tte, which gives you jäätte.
Wait, doesn't jää mean "ice"?
Yes, it does! The noun jää (ice) and the stem of the verb jäädä (to stay) look exactly the same. You can tell it is the verb here because it is following the pronoun te and has the verb ending -tte attached to it.