Minä vien koiran kotiin.

I take the dog home.

Breakdown of Minä vien koiran kotiin.

• minä: I
• koti: the home
• koira: the dog
• viedä: to take

Questions & Answers about Minä vien koiran kotiin.

Why is the pronoun Minä used here and can I omit it?

In Finnish, subject pronouns like minä (I) are optional because the verb conjugation already indicates the person. Here vien shows that the subject is first person singular. You can freely omit minä in everyday speech:
Vien koiran kotiin
means exactly the same as
Minä vien koiran kotiin.

What does the word vien mean and what is its infinitive?

Vien is the first person singular present tense form of the verb viedä (to take or transport something away). The full conjugation in present tense is:
minä vien, sinä viet, hän vie, me viemme, te viette, he vievät.

Why is koiran in this form instead of koira or koiraa?

Koiran is the accusative/genitive singular form, marked by -n. It indicates a complete, definite object (“the dog” as a whole). If you used the partitive koiraa, it would imply an incomplete or ongoing action (e.g. “taking some dog,” which doesn’t make sense here). Because you take the entire dog home, you use koiran.

What case is kotiin and why is it used?

Kotiin is the illative case, expressing motion into or towards something. You form the illative singular by adding -in to the stem:
koti → koti-in → kotiin (“into home” / “homewards”).

How would I say “I take the dog to my home” specifically?

Add the possessive suffix -ni (my) to koti before the illative ending:
koti → koti-ni → kotiini (my home)
then add -in for illative:
kotiini → kotiini (context shows “to my home”).
Full sentence:
Minä vien koiran kotiini.

When would I use tuoda instead of viedä?

Use viedä when you “take” something away from the speaker’s or current location to elsewhere. Use tuoda when you “bring” something towards the speaker’s or a reference point.
For example, if you’re at home and someone asks you to bring the dog into the house, you’d say:
Tuon koiran sisään.
But if you’re outside and you’re taking the dog to your home, you say:
Vien koiran kotiin.

How do I form the past tense of this sentence?

The past (imperfect) of viedä for first person singular is vein. So:
Minä vein koiran kotiin.
→ “I took the dog home.”

How would I express that I will take the dog home in the future?

Finnish has no separate future tense; you either use the present with a time adverb or a modal verb. For example:
1) Vien koiran kotiin huomenna.
“I’ll take the dog home tomorrow.”
2) Aion viedä koiran kotiin.
“I intend to take the dog home.”

How would I say “I take the dogs home” (plural)?

Use the plural object form koirat (nominative/accusative plural) and the same verb form:
Minä vien koirat kotiin.
Since it’s a complete action on the dogs (plural), no partitive is used.