Breakdown of Me matkustamme Viroon, pieneen kylään.
me
we
pieni
small
matkustaa
to travel
Viro
Estonia
kylä
village
Questions & Answers about Me matkustamme Viroon, pieneen kylään.
Why do the words Viroon, pieneen, and kylään all end with a double vowel plus -n?
This is the illative case, which expresses movement "into" a place. You usually form it by doubling the last vowel of the word and adding -n. That is why Viro becomes Viroon and kylä becomes kylään.
Why does the adjective pieni (small) also take an ending and become pieneen?
In Finnish, adjectives must match the grammar case of the noun they describe. Because the village is in the "into" form (kylään), the word "small" must also take that same form (pieneen).
How exactly do we build pieneen from the dictionary word pieni?
Older Finnish words ending in -i often change that -i to an -e before adding grammar endings. So pieni turns into the base form piene-. Then we apply the rule for the "into" form: double the last vowel and add -n, which results in pieneen.
Why doesn't the Finnish word for Estonia sound like "Estonia"?
Finland and Estonia are close neighbors, so Finnish has its own historical name for the country: Viro. To say you are traveling to Estonia, you simply use the "into" form, Viroon.
Learn Me matkustamme Viroon, pieneen kylään 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