Questions & Answers about Syksyllä sää on viileä ja sataa paljon.
Why does syksyllä end in -llä if the translation says "in" autumn?
In Finnish, the ending -llä (which often translates to "on" or "at") is used for seasons and times of the day. While English uses "in" for "in autumn", Finnish uses this -llä ending. You will also see this pattern in words like aamulla (in the morning) and kesällä (in summer).
Where is the word for "it" in sataa paljon ("it rains a lot")?
Finnish does not use a dummy subject like "it" for weather verbs. While in English we must say "it rains", in Finnish you simply use the verb on its own: sataa. Adding the word se (it) before the verb would sound unnatural to a native speaker.
Is the verb sataa in a special conjugated form here?
It is conjugated in the third-person singular (the "he/she/it" form), but it happens to look exactly the same as its dictionary form! The basic infinitive is sataa (to rain), and the active "it rains" form used in sentences is also sataa.
Could I use the word ilma instead of sää here?
Yes! While sää is the exact word for "weather", the word ilma (which literally means "air") is very commonly used in everyday Finnish to mean weather. Saying Syksyllä ilma on viileä would sound perfectly natural.