Meillä on valkoinen sohva olohuoneessa.

We have a white couch in the living room.

Breakdown of Meillä on valkoinen sohva olohuoneessa.

• -ssa: in
• me: we
• olohuone: the living room
• valkoinen: white
• sohva: the couch

Questions & Answers about Meillä on valkoinen sohva olohuoneessa.

What does meillä mean and why is it used in this sentence?

Meillä is the adessive form of the pronoun me (meaning "we" or "us") and literally translates as "at us." In Finnish, this form is used to express possession. Instead of saying "we have" directly, Finnish expresses possession with the construction meillä on, which conveys that something exists in relation to "us."

Why is the verb on used in the sentence, and what role does it play?

On is the third person singular present form of the verb olla (to be). Here, it functions as an existential verb. In the construction meillä on, it indicates that something exists for the possessor—in this case, a white sofa. Essentially, on helps form the equivalent of the English concept of "having" by stating "there is" or "exists" for someone.

How does the Finnish word order in this sentence differ from English when expressing possession?

In English, possession is typically expressed with the verb "to have," as in "We have a white sofa in the living room." Finnish, however, uses the structure meillä on [object] [location], where the possessor comes first (in the adessive case), followed by the existential verb, then the possessed object, and finally a locative expression. This order emphasizes the relationship between the possessor and the object.

Why is there no article like a or the before sohva?

Finnish does not have articles. Nouns such as sohva appear without any definite or indefinite articles. This means that whether it translates to "a white sofa" or "the white sofa" in English depends on the context, but grammatically, no article is needed in Finnish.

What grammatical case is used in olohuoneessa and what does it indicate?

Olohuoneessa is in the inessive case, which is marked by the ending -ssa (or -ssä, following vowel harmony). The inessive case is used to indicate that something is located "in" or "inside" a particular place. In this sentence, it tells us that the white sofa is located in the living room.