Breakdown of Sinun tulee allekirjoittaa veroilmoitus tänään.
sinä
you
tänään
today
allekirjoittaa
to sign
tulla
must (necessity auxiliary)
veroilmoitus
the tax return
Questions & Answers about Sinun tulee allekirjoittaa veroilmoitus tänään.
I usually use pitää or täytyy for 'must'. Why use tulee in this sentence?
The genitive + tulee + 1st infinitive construction is a more formal alternative to pitää and täytyy. You will frequently see it in official documents, contracts, and written instructions, which fits perfectly when talking about a tax return (veroilmoitus).
Why is the object veroilmoitus in its basic form instead of having an -n ending?
This is a crucial rule for necessity sentences. When a sentence uses a necessity verb (like tulee, pitää, or täytyy) and has a genitive subject (sinun), a total object does not take the normal -n accusative ending. It looks exactly like the basic nominative form.
Could I drop the pronoun sinun here, since Finnish often drops 'you' pronouns?
No, you must keep sinun in this sentence to specify 'you'. You can usually drop sinä when the main verb has the -t ending (like allekirjoitat), but necessity verbs like tulee stay frozen in the 3rd-person singular form. Without sinun, the sentence becomes a generic statement: 'One must sign the tax return.'
Is allekirjoittaa literally 'to write under'?
Yes! It is a compound of alle (under) and kirjoittaa (to write). Because it is a solid compound verb, you conjugate the end of it just like the regular verb kirjoittaa, while the alle- prefix stays attached and unchanged.
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