Learn Finnish: He ovat kotoisin samasta maasta. - They are from the same country.

He ovat kotoisin samasta maasta.

They are from the same country.

Breakdown of He ovat kotoisin samasta maasta.

to be from, to come from

Questions & Answers about He ovat kotoisin samasta maasta.

Why do both sama and maa end in -sta?

In Finnish, descriptive words must match the ending of the noun they describe. Because maa (country) takes the -sta ending to mean "from the country", the word sama (same) must also take the -sta ending, becoming samasta.

What exactly does the -sta ending mean in maasta?

The -sta ending is the "from" or "out of" case (called the elative case). Attached to the base word maa (country), it turns into maasta meaning "from a country".

If -sta already means "from", why do we also need the word kotoisin?

The phrase olla kotoisin is a fixed expression that specifically means "to originate from" or "to be native to" a place. You use it together with a place name or noun ending in -sta (or -stä) to talk about someone's roots or home country.

Does he apply to anything plural?

No, he is specifically used for "they" when talking about people. If you were talking about animals or objects being from the same country, you would use the pronoun ne instead.