Tehkää olonne kotoisaksi, mutta muistakaa olla varovaisia ulkona, sillä tiet ovat märkiä.

Make yourselves comfortable, but remember to be careful outside, because the roads are wet.

Breakdown of Tehkää olonne kotoisaksi, mutta muistakaa olla varovaisia ulkona, sillä tiet ovat märkiä.

• olla: to be
• mutta: but
• ulkona: outside
• muistaa: to remember
• tehdä: to make
• tie: the road
• sillä: because
• varovainen: careful
• teidän: your
• märkä: wet

Questions & Answers about Tehkää olonne kotoisaksi, mutta muistakaa olla varovaisia ulkona, sillä tiet ovat märkiä.

What is the function of the imperative forms tehkää and muistakaa in this sentence?

They are used to give commands in the second-person plural. Tehkää (from tehdä, “to do/make”) instructs the listeners to “make your [state] homely” (i.e. make themselves feel at home), while muistakaa (from muistaa, “to remember”) tells them “remember” to do something—in this case, to be cautious when outdoors.

How is the phrase olonne kotoisaksi structured, and what does it mean?

Olonne kotoisaksi literally translates as “your state of being homely” or “feel at home.” Here, olonne (“your state”) comes from the verb olla (“to be”) with a possessive element, and kotoisaksi is formed by taking the adjective kotoisa (“cozy” or “homely”) and adding the transformation suffix -ksi. This suffix indicates a change into a particular state, so together they instruct the audience to transform their state to one that is comfortable or like being at home.

Why is the infinitive olla used after muistakaa, and what does this construction tell us?

In Finnish, when giving an instruction like “remember to…” the verb muistaa is often followed by the bare infinitive. Here, muistakaa olla varovaisia ulkona translates to “remember to be careful outside.” The use of olla (the infinitive of “to be”) is a standard construction that connects the command “remember” with the action that should follow.

What role does the conjunction sillä play in this sentence?

Sillä functions as a causal conjunction equivalent to “because” or “since.” It introduces the reason behind the earlier advice. In this sentence, sillä tiet ovat märkiä explains that the reason for being careful outdoors is that “the roads are wet.”

Why is tiet ovat märkiä phrased this way, and what should a learner note about the adjective märkiä?

Tiet ovat märkiä forms an independent clause that states the condition creating the need for caution: “the roads are wet.” A learner should note that tiet is the plural of tie (“road”) and that märkiä is a plural form of the adjective märkä (“wet”), which agrees in number with tiet. This agreement between the subject and the adjective is a common grammatical feature in Finnish.