Learn Finnish: Hän sanoo, että kirja on vaikea. - He says that the book is difficult.

Hän sanoo, että kirja on vaikea.

He says that the book is difficult.

Breakdown of Hän sanoo, että kirja on vaikea.

Questions & Answers about Hän sanoo, että kirja on vaikea.

Why does sanoo have a double vowel at the end?

Sanoo comes from the Type 1 verb sanoa (to say). To make the hän (he/she) form in the present tense, you take the stem (sano-) and double its final vowel. That gives us sanoo.

Can I use että to say "that book"?

No. Että is only used to connect two parts of a sentence, exactly like "He says that..." in English. If you want to point to "that book" over there, you need the word tuo (tuo kirja).

How do we know hän means "he" here?

You only know from context! Finnish is completely gender-neutral, so hän means "he", "she", or a singular "they". The translation here uses "he" just to give you one valid English meaning.

This lesson teaches Type 3 verbs. Is there one in this sentence?

Yes, but it is hiding! The verb on comes from olla (to be). Because olla ends in -lla, it belongs to Verb Type 3. However, it is a very irregular verb, so you just have to memorize forms like on rather than applying the standard Type 3 rules.