Breakdown of Asunnottomat käyvät täällä, sillä heillä ei ole kotia.
olla
to be
täällä
here
he
they
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
koti
the home
käydä
to visit, to go (and come back)
sillä
for / because (coordinating)
asunnoton
homeless (without a dwelling/housing)
Questions & Answers about Asunnottomat käyvät täällä, sillä heillä ei ole kotia.
Why is asunnottomat used without a noun like ihmiset (people)?
In Finnish, you can often use an adjective on its own as a noun phrase, especially in the plural to represent demographic groups. Asunnottomat translates directly to 'the homeless ones'. Adding ihmiset would be grammatically correct, but omitting it is much more natural, just like saying 'the homeless' in English.
How does the word asunnottomat get its plural form?
It is built from the noun asunto (apartment/dwelling) plus the suffix -ton (without), creating the adjective asunnoton (homeless). Adjectives ending in -ton or -tön change their ending to -ttomat or -ttömät in the plural nominative, giving us asunnottomat.
Why does the sentence use käyvät instead of tulevat for the English translation 'come'?
While tulla strictly means 'to come' (movement toward the speaker), käydä means 'to visit' or 'to go somewhere and leave'. Using käyvät täällä highlights that the people come to this location (perhaps a shelter or a clinic) for a visit or a specific purpose and will leave afterwards.
Why is the word for home in the partitive case (kotia)?
This is a negative ownership sentence. In Finnish 'have' structures, the thing being owned is usually in the nominative case if the sentence is positive, but it must be in the partitive case if the sentence is negative. Because it says ei ole (they do not have), koti becomes kotia.
Could I use koska instead of sillä to mean 'because' here?
Yes, they mean the same thing in this context. Koska is much more common in everyday spoken Finnish, while sillä has a slightly more literary or written tone. However, remember that a clause starting with sillä cannot be placed at the very beginning of a sentence, whereas a koska clause can.
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