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Questions & Answers about Lusikka on pöydällä.
What does on mean in Lusikka on pöydällä? It looks like the English preposition on, but is it the same?
In Finnish, on is the third-person singular form of the verb olla (to be). So in Lusikka on pöydällä, on simply means is. It has nothing to do with the English preposition on.
Why are there no words for a or the in this sentence?
Finnish does not have definite or indefinite articles. A noun in the singular (like lusikka) can mean a spoon or the spoon depending on context. You don’t need to insert a/the manually.
Which case is lusikka in and how do I recognize it?
lusikka is in the nominative singular, the basic dictionary form of the noun. It’s used for the subject of a sentence. You recognize it by the lack of additional case endings (apart from the stem ending -a here).
Which case is pöydällä and why is it used here?
pöydällä is in the adessive case, which expresses location on or at something. In English you’d use the preposition on; in Finnish you attach -lla/llä to the noun.
Why is the ending -llä in pöydällä instead of -lla?
Finnish has vowel harmony. Because pöytä contains the front vowels ö and ä, you use the front-vowel version of the suffix, -llä. Words with back vowels (a, o, u) take -lla.
Why is it pöydällä and not pöydässä? Aren’t both possible?
-llä (adessive) means on/at, while -ssä (inessive) means in/inside. Since you place a spoon on top of the table, you use pöydällä. Pöydässä would imply something is inside the table (e.g. in a drawer built into it).
What is the typical word order in Finnish? Why is the subject before the verb here?
The neutral Finnish word order is Subject–Verb–Object/Adverbial, so Lusikka (S) on (V) pöydällä (Adv.). However, Finnish is flexible. You can front the location for emphasis or existential meaning: Pöydällä on lusikka (“There’s a spoon on the table”).
How would you say There is a spoon on the table in Finnish instead of The spoon is on the table?
Use the existential word order Location–Verb–Subject:
Pöydällä on lusikka.
Literally: “On the table is a spoon.”
How do I say The spoons are on the table in Finnish? What changes?
You need plural forms and the third-person plural of olla:
Lusikat ovat pöydillä.
Here lusikat is nominative plural and pöydillä is adessive plural (suffix -illä because of front vowels).