Questions & Answers about Puhelin on tyynyn alla.
Why does the word for pillow have an -n at the end (tyynyn)?
In Finnish, words that come right before a postposition (like alla, meaning "under") usually need to be in the genitive case. For most words, you form this by adding an -n to the end. So, tyyny (pillow) becomes tyynyn.
Why is the word order tyynyn alla instead of alla tyynyn?
English uses prepositions, which come before the noun ("under the pillow"). Finnish mostly uses postpositions, which come after the noun. Because the noun is in the genitive (possessive) case, you can think of it literally as saying "the pillow's under".
There is no word for "the" in this sentence. How do we know it means "the phone" and not "a phone"?
Finnish does not have articles like "a" or "the". You usually figure it out from context and word order. Because puhelin is the subject at the very start of the sentence, it usually represents known information, which translates best to "the phone".
Does the postposition alla change its ending depending on the word before it?
No, postpositions like alla stay exactly the same here. While the noun before it changes into the genitive case (tyynyn), alla itself does not need to agree with the noun. It just stays alla.
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