Tänään olen onnellinen, koska aurinko paistaa.

to be

Breakdown of Tänään olen onnellinen, koska aurinko paistaa.

• tänään: today
• koska: because
• aurinko: the sun
• onnellinen: happy
• paistaa: to shine

Questions & Answers about Tänään olen onnellinen, koska aurinko paistaa.

What is the function and meaning of tänään in this sentence?

Tänään means today and functions as an adverb of time. It tells you when the state expressed in the sentence is true, setting the temporal context by appearing right at the beginning.

Why is the subject pronoun minä (I) omitted in the phrase olen onnellinen?

In Finnish, subject pronouns are often dropped because the verb conjugation clearly indicates the subject. Olen is the first-person singular form of the verb olla (to be), so it’s understood that the speaker is referring to “I” without needing to explicitly state minä.

How does koska work in this sentence, and what role does it play?

Koska is a subordinating conjunction meaning because. It introduces a subordinate clause that explains the reason for the main clause. In this sentence, it connects the speaker’s happiness to the fact that the sun is shining.

Why is there a comma before koska, and is that comma placement required?

The comma separates the main clause (Tänään olen onnellinen) from the subordinate clause (koska aurinko paistaa). In Finnish punctuation, it is common to use a comma to clearly indicate the boundary between a main clause and a reason clause introduced by a word like koska.

How is the verb paistaa used in the subordinate clause, and what does its form tell us?

Paistaa is in the present tense and means shines or is shining. The noun aurinko (sun) serves as the subject of this verb. In Finnish, third-person singular verbs often have a simple form, and because the subject is already given by aurinko, no additional pronoun is needed.