Questions & Answers about Kesällä sää on usein lämmin.
The translation says "in summer", so why does kesä have the -llä ending instead of the -ssä ("in") ending?
In Finnish, seasons and times of the day generally use the adessive ending -lla/-llä (which usually means "on" or "at"). So, to say "in summer" or "in winter", you must use this ending: kesällä and talvella.
Why is the ending on kesä spelled -llä and not -lla?
This is because of the rule of vowel harmony. The word kesä contains the front vowels e and ä. Therefore, any ending attached to it must also use front vowels (like ä or y), making it -llä.
Could I put kesällä at the end of the sentence instead?
Yes, Sää on usein lämmin kesällä is grammatically correct. However, Finnish commonly places time words at the very beginning of the sentence to set the scene, just like the English translation: "In summer, the weather is often warm."
Does the word lämmin change if I want to say "a warm summer" (lämmin kesä)?
No, when you are just stating what something is, you use the basic dictionary form (the nominative case), so "a warm summer" is simply lämmin kesä. Just keep in mind for later that if you ever need to add an ending to lämmin (like saying "in the warm"), its stem changes quite a bit to lämpimä-!
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