Ystävä asuu kaukana.

the friend

Breakdown of Ystävä asuu kaukana.

• asua: to live
• kaukana: far away

Questions & Answers about Ystävä asuu kaukana.

Why is the word order Ystävä asuu kaukana instead of Ystävä kaukana asuu?

Finnish word order is quite flexible, but placing the verb after the subject (i.e., Ystävä asuu) is the most neutral choice. Putting kaukana (far away) at the end emphasizes that the location or distance is an important piece of new information.

What does kaukana mean, and can I use kauas instead?

Kaukana is an adverb meaning far away in a static sense (location). Kauas means (to) far away and emphasizes movement towards a distant place. Since the sentence describes where the friend is living, we use kaukana (static location).

Why is the verb asuu used? Is asua commonly used with location expressions?

Asua means to live (in the sense of residing somewhere). Its third-person singular form is asuu. It appears frequently in location expressions (e.g., asua Suomessa, to live in Finland), so combining asua with kaukana is natural when describing someone’s distant residence.

Does Finnish require a personal pronoun like “he” or “she” before the verb?

No. In Finnish, personal pronouns are not always needed, especially in the third person. The conjugated verb already indicates the subject. Saying Ystävä asuu kaukana is enough; you don’t have to add anything like hän (he/she).