Breakdown of Kaupunki on kaukana, ja kukaan ei tiedä, missä olemme.
olla
to be
ja
and
missä
where
kaupunki
city
ei
no / not (negative verb)
tietää
to know
kukaan
anyone, nobody (with negation)
kaukana
far away
Questions & Answers about Kaupunki on kaukana, ja kukaan ei tiedä, missä olemme.
Why is the word order kukaan ei instead of ei kukaan?
Both mean 'nobody', but the word order follows normal Finnish sentence structure. Because kukaan is the subject of the sentence, it comes before the negative verb ei, exactly like how you would say hän ei tiedä (he does not know).
Why is the verb tiedä instead of tietää?
In negative sentences, the main verb drops its personal ending. Because of the negative word ei, tietää loses its ending and goes through consonant gradation (the strong -t- becomes a weak -d-), resulting in tiedä.
Could we use ketään instead of kukaan here?
No, because 'nobody' is the subject of this sentence (the one who does not know). Kukaan is the nominative subject form. You use the partitive form ketään when nobody is the object of the action, like in en näe ketään (I do not see anybody).
What kind of word is kaukana?
Kaukana means 'far away'. It actually has an old location ending -na, but at this level, it is best to memorize it as a fixed adverb. You might also recognize its variations for movement, like kaukaa (from far away) and kauas (to far away).
Learn Kaupunki on kaukana, ja kukaan ei tiedä, missä olemme and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free