Siskoni haluaa ostaa vihreän paidan.

My sister wants to buy a green shirt.

Breakdown of Siskoni haluaa ostaa vihreän paidan.

• minun: my
• vihreä: green
• haluta: to want
• sisko: the sister
• ostaa: to buy
• paita: the shirt

Questions & Answers about Siskoni haluaa ostaa vihreän paidan.

Why is it "Siskoni" instead of "Minun siskoni"?

In Finnish, you can often omit the possessive pronoun when the relationship is clear. "Siskoni" literally combines "sisko" (sister) with the possessive suffix "-ni" (my), so it already means my sister. If you wanted to emphasize "my" more strongly, you could say Minun siskoni, but it's not necessary in standard Finnish.

Why do we say "vihreän paidan" instead of something like "vihreä paita"?

In Finnish, a direct object is often marked with the genitive case to indicate a complete object. Here, paidan is the genitive form of paita (shirt), and vihreän (green) also appears in the genitive form to match paidan. Saying vihreä paita would generally mean referring to "a green shirt" in a more indefinite or partitive sense, but since your sister wants to buy the entire shirt (a complete object), we use the genitive form.

Why does "haluaa" end with "aa"? Is that a special ending?

The verb haluta (to want) is a type 4 Finnish verb. Its present tense third-person singular form is haluaa. The double "a" is part of the standard conjugation rules for this verb type. Other persons or tenses will conjugate differently (for example, minä haluan, sinä haluat, etc.).

What is the role of word order in "Siskoni haluaa ostaa vihreän paidan"?

Finnish word order is relatively flexible, but the most common pattern is Subject - Verb - Object. Here, Siskoni (my sister) is the subject, haluaa ostaa (wants to buy) is the verb phrase, and vihreän paidan (a green shirt) is the object. You can rearrange the words for emphasis, but this is the most straightforward, neutral order.

Is "ostaa" used only for buying, or can it have other meanings?

The verb ostaa specifically means to buy in Finnish. If you want to say things like to purchase in a more formal sense, you still usually just use ostaa. However, there are other verbs for different actions (such as tilata for to order, hankkia for to acquire, and so on).