Word
Kävin kaupassa. Sen jälkeen menin kotiin.
Meaning
I went to the shop. After that I went home.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Kävin kaupassa. Sen jälkeen menin kotiin.
kauppa
shop
mennä
to go
koti
the home
käydä
to visit, to go (and come back)
Questions & Answers about Kävin kaupassa. Sen jälkeen menin kotiin.
Why does the first sentence use kaupassa (in the shop) instead of kauppaan (to the shop)?
What is the difference between kävin and menin if both translate to "went"?
Kävin comes from the verb käydä, which implies a round trip or a completed visit (you went to the shop, finished there, and left). Menin comes from mennä, which implies one-way travel to a destination (you went home, and that is where you ended up).
Why is the word se (it/that) written as sen in the phrase sen jälkeen?
The word jälkeen (after) is a postposition, which works like an English preposition but comes after the word it relates to. Most Finnish postpositions require the word before them to be in the genitive case (the -n ending). Therefore, se becomes sen.
Why does koti (home) become kotiin in the second sentence?