Learn Finnish: Kävelimme kadulla, kunnes valot sammuivat. - We walked on the street until the lights went out.

Kävelimme kadulla, kunnes valot sammuivat.

We walked on the street until the lights went out.

Breakdown of Kävelimme kadulla, kunnes valot sammuivat.

Questions & Answers about Kävelimme kadulla, kunnes valot sammuivat.

How does the word kunnes affect the word order in the second half of the sentence?

The word kunnes starts a subordinate clause, but the word order here remains straightforward. Just like in a main clause, the subject valot comes first, followed directly by the verb sammuivat.

Both kävelimme and sammuivat are in the past tense. Do verbs linked by kunnes always have to be in the same tense?

Not necessarily! While both actions happened in the past here, kunnes simply connects the timeframe of the two clauses. You could easily have a present tense main clause combined with a present tense kunnes clause to describe waiting until an action finishes.

Could I use the verb sammuttaa instead of sammua here to say the lights went out?

No, because sammua is an intransitive verb meaning to go out or turn off on its own. This fits perfectly here since valot is the subject. The verb sammuttaa is transitive and means to actively turn something off, so you would only use it if someone was manually turning the lights off.

Why is the street in the adessive case (kadulla) rather than the partitive case (katua)?

Using the adessive case kadulla tells us the street is the general location where the walking happened. If you used the partitive katua, it would instead emphasize walking along the street as a specific route or pathway.