Learn Finnish: Olen kotoisin pienestä kaupungista.

Olen kotoisin pienestä kaupungista.

I am from a small town.

Breakdown of Olen kotoisin pienestä kaupungista.

to be from, to come from

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Questions & Answers about Olen kotoisin pienestä kaupungista.

What is the word kotoisin doing in this sentence?

The phrase olla kotoisin specifically means to be from a place, like your hometown or home country. It is always paired with a place word that has a from ending, like the -sta or -stä endings you see here.

Why do both pienestä and kaupungista have from endings?

In Finnish, adjectives must match the noun they describe. Because the noun is in the from form (the elative case), the adjective pieni (small) must also take the matching ending to become pienestä.

Why does pienestä end in -stä but kaupungista ends in -sta?

This happens because of vowel harmony. Words with back vowels like a, o, and u take the -sta ending, which is why we get kaupungista. Words with only front or neutral vowels like e and i take the -stä ending, giving us pienestä.

Why did the i at the end of pieni change to an e in pienestä?