Breakdown of Hän osti kauniin lahjan syntymäpäiväjuhliin.
hän
he
kaunis
beautiful
ostaa
to buy
-iin
to
lahja
the gift
syntymäpäiväjuhla
the birthday party
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Questions & Answers about Hän osti kauniin lahjan syntymäpäiväjuhliin.
What does Hän mean and is it gender-specific?
Hän is the 3rd person singular pronoun in Finnish, equivalent to English he/she. Finnish personal pronouns have no grammatical gender, so hän is used for both males and females.
How do you form the past tense osti from ostaa?
Ostaa (“to buy”) is a type I verb (ends in -aa). To form the past tense, you:
1) drop -aa → stem osta-
2) add the past marker -i-
3) add the personal ending (zero ending for 3rd person singular)
Giving osti = “bought.”
Why is the object lahjan in this form instead of lahja?
Finnish marks a completed direct object with the accusative case. For singular, non-pronoun nouns the accusative looks like the genitive, so lahja → lahjan (“a gift” or “the gift”) when it’s the object of a finished action.
Why does the adjective appear as kauniin rather than kaunis?
Adjectives in Finnish agree with their noun in case and number. Since lahjan is singular accusative (genitive form), kaunis also takes that form → kauniin (“beautiful”).
What case is syntymäpäiväjuhliin, and what does it express?
It’s the illative plural of syntymäpäiväjuhlat (“birthday party/parties”). The illative case (suffix -iN) indicates movement “into” or “toward” something, so syntymäpäiväjuhliin means “to/for the birthday party.”
Why is syntymäpäiväjuhlat always plural when referring to a party?
In Finnish, juhlat (“celebrations,” “party”) is conventionally a plural word even for a single event. That’s why you use the plural stem and form for any “party.”
Why aren’t there articles like “a” or “the” in this sentence?
Finnish has no articles. Definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from context, word order, or optional demonstratives (e.g. tämä, se).
Can the pronoun Hän be omitted?
Yes. Finnish is a pro-drop language, so you can drop the subject pronoun if the verb form makes the subject clear.
For example, Osti kauniin lahjan syntymäpäiväjuhliin still means “He/she bought a beautiful gift for the birthday party.”