Breakdown of Suomessa yö on kesällä hyvin valoisa.
olla
to be
Suomi
Finland
yö
night
kesä
summer
valoisa
bright
hyvin
very
Questions & Answers about Suomessa yö on kesällä hyvin valoisa.
Why does Suomi change to Suome- before adding the -ssa ending?
Many older Finnish words ending in -i change that -i to an -e- when you add endings like the location ending -ssa or -ssä. So, Suomi becomes Suome- plus -ssa, making Suomessa (in Finland). Another common example is kieli (language), which becomes kielessä.
English says "in summer", so why does Finnish use the -llä ending for kesällä instead of -ssä?
In Finnish, seasons of the year take the -lla or -llä ending (the "on/at" ending) to express when something happens. Even though we say "in summer" in English, Finnish logic treats it more like "at summer time". You will see the exact same thing with talvella (in winter).
I thought hyvin meant "well". Why is it translated as "very" here?
You are right! Hyvin is the adverb form of hyvä (good), so it usually means "well". However, when you put hyvin right before an adjective like valoisa (bright), it acts as an intensifier meaning "very". You could also use the word tosi here to mean the same thing.
Why does the sentence start with Suomessa instead of the subject yö?
Finnish is very flexible with word order. It is common to start a sentence with a location like Suomessa (In Finland) or a time to set the scene first. It translates naturally, but you could also say Yö on kesällä hyvin valoisa Suomessa and the core meaning would remain exactly the same.
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