Word
Et koskaan puhu haaveistasi.
Meaning
You never talk about your dreams.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Et koskaan puhu haaveistasi.
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
puhua
to speak
koskaan
never / ever
haave
the dream
Questions & Answers about Et koskaan puhu haaveistasi.
Why is the word for 'your' missing from this sentence?
It isn't completely missing! The word 'your' is expressed by the possessive suffix -si at the end of haaveistasi. Because 1st and 2nd person suffixes make it obvious who the owner is, you can drop the genitive pronoun sinun entirely. This is called pro-drop.
Where did the subject pronoun sinä (you) go?
Just like with the possessive pronoun sinun, the subject pronoun sinä can be dropped. The negative verb et already clearly shows that the subject is the 2nd person singular.
Why is the word for dreams in the elative case (-sta)?
The verb puhua (to talk) requires the topic of conversation to be in the elative case (-sta or -stä, meaning 'from' or 'about'). Since it is plural, the stem is haavei-, making it haaveista before adding the -si suffix.
How does koskaan mean 'never' in this sentence?
Finnish does not have a single standalone word for 'never'. Instead, you pair the negative verb (here, et) with koskaan (ever). Together, et koskaan literally translates to 'you do not ever', which gives us 'you never'.