Breakdown of Kun me jäämme tänne, ankkurin köysi on meressä.
olla
to be
me
we
tänne
to here
jäädä
to stay
kun
when (conjunction)
ankkuri
anchor
meri
sea
köysi
rope
Questions & Answers about Kun me jäämme tänne, ankkurin köysi on meressä.
Why is there no word order inversion in the second part of the sentence?
In some languages, starting a sentence with a kun (when) clause would force the main clause to swap its subject and verb. Finnish doesn't do this! The main clause ankkurin köysi on meressä keeps its normal subject-verb word order, just like in English.
Is the comma after tänne strictly necessary?
Yes. In Finnish punctuation rules, you must always separate a main clause from a subordinate clause (like the one starting with kun) with a comma.
Why does the sentence use tänne (to here) instead of täällä (at here) with the verb jäädä (to stay)?
In Finnish, the verb jäädä (to stay/remain) is treated as a movement verb. You are conceptually leaving yourself somewhere! Therefore, it requires a directional word like tänne (to here) or a location ending in an into case, rather than a static location word like täällä.
How does the word meri (sea) become meressä?
Meri is an old Finnish word ending in -i. When adding endings like the in case (-ssä), the final -i changes to an -e-. So, meri becomes the stem mere-, and adding -ssä gives us meressä (in the sea).
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