Breakdown of Kahvi kylmeni nopeasti, kun olimme ulkona.
olla
to be
ulkona
outside
nopeasti
fast
kahvi
coffee
kun
when (conjunction)
kylmetä
to get cold
Questions & Answers about Kahvi kylmeni nopeasti, kun olimme ulkona.
How is the past tense verb kylmeni formed here?
It comes from the Verb Type 6 word kylmetä (to get cold). To find the stem of a Type 6 verb, you drop the -eta/-etä and add -ne-, giving us kylmene-. To form the past tense for 'it' (the coffee), we add the past marker -i. The -e- at the end of the stem drops out before the -i, resulting in kylmeni.
Is the verb kylmetä related to the adjective kylmä?
Yes! This is a very common feature of Verb Type 6. These verbs often mean 'to become [adjective]'. Here, the adjective kylmä (cold) turns into the verb kylmetä (to get or become cold). Other common examples are lyhetä (to become short, from lyhyt) and paheta (to become worse, from paha).
If the coffee didn't get cold, how would we say 'The coffee did not get cold'?
It would be Kahvi ei kylmennyt. For the negative past tense of a Type 6 verb, you use the negative verb (ei) and the past participle of the main verb. For Type 6, you form this by replacing the basic form's -eta/-etä with -ennyt/-ennut (or thinking of it as adding -nnyt to the -ne- stem), giving us kylmennyt.
Could I use ulos instead of ulkona to mean 'outside' in this sentence?
No, because Finnish uses different words for 'outside' depending on movement. Ulkona is static and answers the question 'where?' (where were we?). Ulos implies movement and answers the question 'where to?' (like walking outside). Since 'we were' implies a static location, you must use ulkona.
Just to review, how is the word nopeasti formed?
Nopeasti (quickly) is the adverb form of the adjective nopea (quick). In Finnish, you create most adverbs by adding the ending -sti to the adjective's inflectional stem. Here, it modifies the verb kylmeni to tell us exactly how the coffee got cold.
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