Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Finnish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Lauletaan karaokea illalla!
Why does lauletaan mean "let's sing"? Isn't it a passive verb?
Yes, lauletaan is the present passive form of laulaa (to sing). While it formally means "is sung", spoken Finnish almost always uses the passive form instead of the standard "we" form. When you use this passive form on its own without the word me (we), it acts as a suggestion: "Let's sing!"
If lauletaan means "let's sing", how would I say "we sing" in spoken Finnish?
You simply add the pronoun me (we) in front of it. Me lauletaan means "we sing" or "we are singing" in spoken Finnish. (In formal written Finnish, this would be me laulamme).
Why is the word karaoke in the partitive case (karaokea)?
Singing is generally an ongoing activity without a strict endpoint, so the verb laulaa usually takes a partitive object. You are engaging in the continuous action of singing karaoke, rather than completing a single, countable "karaoke".
Why use the ending -lla on ilta (illalla) to say "tonight"?
The word ilta (evening) takes the adessive case ending -lla to indicate the time when something happens ("in the evening"). Because this sentence is suggesting a plan for the immediate future, "in the evening" naturally translates to "tonight" in English.