Breakdown of Pakkanen oli niin kova, että järvi jäätyi yöllä.
olla
to be
yö
night
niin
so
että
that (conjunction)
kova
strong (intense, hard)
järvi
lake
pakkanen
the subzero temperature
jäätyä
to freeze
Questions & Answers about Pakkanen oli niin kova, että järvi jäätyi yöllä.
How does the niin ... että structure work in this sentence?
It perfectly matches the English so ... that structure to show a consequence. The word niin (so) modifies the adjective kova (severe), and the conjunction että (that) starts a new clause explaining what happened as a result. Notice there is always a comma before että, which is a strict punctuation rule in Finnish.
Why is the word kova used to mean severe? Doesn't it usually mean hard?
Yes, kova literally means hard, but it is the standard adjective in Finnish to describe strong or severe weather. You will frequently see it paired with words like tuuli (wind) or pakkanen (frost).
What kind of verb is jäätyi (froze), and is it related to the word for ice?
It is directly built from the noun jää (ice). The dictionary form is jäätyä, which is an intransitive verb, meaning something freezes on its own (like the lake did here). If someone or a machine were freezing something on purpose, you would use the related transitive verb jäädyttää instead.
Why does yöllä (in the night) have the -llä ending?
When stating the time of day an event happens, Finnish uses the adessive case (-lla or -llä). Just as you use aamulla for in the morning, you use yöllä for in the night.
Learn Pakkanen oli niin kova, että järvi jäätyi yöllä and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free