Learn Finnish: Elämä sähköttä on yksinkertainen valinta. - Life without electricity is a simple choice.

sähköttä is the abessive form of the noun sähkö (electricity), which means "without electricity". It uses the -ttä ending instead of -tta because of vowel harmony: since sähkö contains the front vowel ö, the suffix must also use a front vowel (ä).

Could I just say ilman sähköä instead of sähköttä?

Yes, absolutely! In fact, in everyday spoken Finnish, you are much more likely to hear ilman sähköä (ilman + partitive). The abessive case (-tta/-ttä) is a bit more literary and formal, though it remains very common in certain fixed phrases and written texts.

The word yksinkertainen looks very long for "simple". How is it constructed?

It literally translates to "one-fold". It is built from yksi (one) + kerta (time/turn) + the adjective ending -inen. Just as English has words like "two-fold" or "manifold", Finnish uses "one-fold" to describe something that is plain, basic, or simple.

Is the noun valinta (choice) related to a verb?

Yes, it is derived from the verb valita (to choose). Adding the suffix -nta or -ntä to a verb stem is a common way in Finnish to create a noun that represents the result of the action.