Paina painiketta, kunhan olet varma.

to be

Breakdown of Paina painiketta, kunhan olet varma.

• varma: sure
• kunhan: as long as
• painaa: to press

Questions & Answers about Paina painiketta, kunhan olet varma.

What form is paina?

Paina is the second-person singular imperative of painaa, meaning press.

So the base verb is painaa = to press, and paina! means press! when speaking to one person.

Finnish often leaves out the subject pronoun in commands, so Paina already means you press / press! without needing sinä.

Why is it painiketta and not painike?

Painiketta is the partitive singular of painike.

Finnish objects are not always in the basic dictionary form. Here, the verb painaa normally takes a partitive object when you mean physically pressing something, because the action does not change or finish the object as a whole. You are just applying pressure to it.

So:

• painike = button
• painiketta = button, in the partitive singular

This is a very normal pattern in Finnish:

• painaa nappia
• painaa jarrua
• painaa painiketta

A learner may expect a direct equivalent of English press the button, but Finnish uses case marking instead of an article like the.

Does painiketta mean a button or the button?