Minä kävelen puistossa ystävän kanssa.

I walk in the park with a friend.

Breakdown of Minä kävelen puistossa ystävän kanssa.

• minä: I
• ystävä: the friend
• puisto: the park
• kävellä: to walk
• kanssa: with
• -sssa: in

Questions & Answers about Minä kävelen puistossa ystävän kanssa.

Why is the subject pronoun Minä explicitly included even though the verb already shows who is performing the action?

In Finnish the subject pronoun is often omitted because the verb ending clearly indicates the subject. However, Minä is included here for clarity or emphasis, which is perfectly acceptable in Finnish.

What does kävelen mean and how is it conjugated?

Kävelen is the first-person singular present tense form of the verb kävellä, which means “to walk.” The ending -en signals that the action is performed by “I.”

How does the word puistossa indicate location in this sentence?

Puistossa is the inessive form of the noun puisto (meaning “park”). The -ssa suffix is an inessive case ending that indicates the action is taking place “in the park.”

Why is ystävä changed to ystävän in this sentence?

When expressing “with a friend” in Finnish, you use the construction [genitive form] + kanssa. Here, ystävä becomes ystävän (the genitive form) to work with kanssa, meaning “with a friend.”

What role does kanssa play in the sentence?

Kanssa means “with” and it is used together with a noun in the genitive case to indicate accompaniment. Thus, ystävän kanssa translates to “with a friend.”