Breakdown of Jos sää on kaunis, viemme tarjoilun vieraille ulos.
olla
to be
kaunis
beautiful
ulos
out
viedä
to take (away, somewhere) / to take (time), require
sää
the weather
jos
if
vieras
guest
tarjoilu
catering
Questions & Answers about Jos sää on kaunis, viemme tarjoilun vieraille ulos.
The English translation says 'we will take', but is viemme in the future tense?
Finnish doesn't have a separate future tense. You simply use the present tense (like viemme) and let the context show that it will happen later. Here, the jos (if) clause naturally sets up a condition for a future event.
Why is 'for the guests' translated as vieraille?
This is the plural allative case, which often translates to 'to' or 'for' someone. The basic word for guest is vieras. To build this form, we take its stem vieraa-, add the plural marker -i-, and attach the ending -lle, giving us vieraille.
Why does tarjoilu (catering/serving) have an -n at the end?
It acts as the object of the verb viemme (the thing being taken). Because we are talking about taking the entire catering outside as a complete action, it takes the -n ending rather than the partitive case.
Could I use ulkona instead of ulos for 'outside' in this sentence?
No, because Finnish strictly distinguishes between being in a place and moving to a place. Ulkona means you are already statically outside. Since the verb viemme (we take) involves movement from inside to outside, you must use the directional word ulos.
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