Minä maksan siskoni lounaan.

I pay for my sister’s lunch.

Breakdown of Minä maksan siskoni lounaan.

• minä: I
• minun: my
• sisko: the sister
• lounas: the lunch
• maksaa: to pay

Questions & Answers about Minä maksan siskoni lounaan.

Why is minä used here? Can I drop it?

Yes. In Finnish the subject pronoun minä (I) is optional because the verb maksan already shows person and number (1st person singular). You can simply say Maksan siskoni lounaan without minä and it still means “I pay my sister’s lunch.” Including minä only adds emphasis or clarity.

Why is siskoni not in a separate genitive case like in English (“my sister’s”)?

Finnish uses possessive suffixes instead of separate genitive modifiers when the possessor is a person. Here siskoni is sisko (sister) + -ni (my). You don’t say siskon (that would be a generic “sister’s” without specifying whose) or minun siskoni in this construction. The possessive suffix attaches directly to the noun.

Why does lounaan have an -n ending? Isn’t lounas the base form?

The -n ending is the accusative (total object) marker for a singular, completed action. Because you’re paying for the entire lunch (a specific, countable item) Finnish grammar uses the accusative lounaan. If you were talking about paying for “some lunch” in a nonspecific or ongoing sense, you’d use the partitive lounasta.

What’s the difference between “Maksan siskoni lounaan” and “Maksan lounaan siskolleni”?

They both can mean “I pay for my sister’s lunch,” but:
• Maksan siskoni lounaan treats “my sister’s lunch” as one direct object (possessive construction).
• Maksan lounaan siskolleni treats lounaan as the direct object and siskolleni (allative case = “to my sister”) as the indirect object/beneficiary.
In practice they’re interchangeable, although the second version more explicitly marks the beneficiary.

Can I mix minun + siskoni or say minun siskoni lounaan?

No. When the possessor is expressed by a suffix you do siskoni (not minun siskoni). If you want to use minun as a separate word, you must switch to a different structure, e.g. lounaan, jonka maksan minun siskolleni (“the lunch that I pay to my sister”)—but that’s more complex. Stick with siskoni for “my sister.”

Is word order fixed? Could I say “Maksan lounaan siskoni” or “Siskoni lounaan maksan”?

Finnish word order is fairly flexible because cases carry the grammatical roles. You can say:
• Maksan lounaan siskoni (neutral)
• Siskoni lounaan maksan (emphasis on “I’m the one who pays”)
• Siskoni lounaan minä maksan (strong emphasis on minä)
Just keep the case endings on siskoni and lounaan correct.

Why aren’t there any articles (“a” or “the”) before lounas or sisko?

Finnish doesn’t use articles. Nouns appear in their case forms by themselves, without words like a, an, or the.

What’s the difference between maksan and ostan? Could I say Ostan siskolleni lounaan?

Maksan means “I pay (the bill),” whereas ostan means “I buy.”
• Maksan siskoni lounaan = I cover the cost of my sister’s lunch (I pay the bill).
• Ostan siskolleni lounaan = I buy lunch for my sister (I purchase it as a gift or treat). They’re different verbs with slightly different nuances.