Questions & Answers about Minä menen heti puistoon.
Menen is the first-person singular present indicative form of the verb mennä (“to go”). The pattern is:
- Infinitive: mennä
- I go: menen
- You go: menet
- He/she goes: menee, etc.
Heti means “immediately” or “right away.” Adverbs of time like heti are quite flexible in Finnish; here it’s natural to place it right after the verb for emphasis on the promptness:
– Menen heti puistoon. = “I’m going to the park right away.”
You could also say Heti menen puistoon, but that sounds more poetic or old-fashioned.
Puistoon is the illative case, which expresses movement “into” something. Cases in Finnish replace prepositions:
– puisto (nominative): “park” (the base dictionary form)
– puistossa (inessive): “in the park” (static location)
– puistoon (illative): “into the park” or “to the park” (movement towards the inside).
For many words ending in a vowel, the illative adds an extra vowel + -n. With puisto (two syllables ending in –o), you double the final vowel and add -n:
– puisto → puistoo → puistoon.
Other examples:
– talo → taloon (“into the house”)
– koulu → kouluun (“into the school”).
Finnish word order is relatively free because cases mark grammatical roles. You can indeed say Puistoon menen heti or Heti puistoon menen. Each variation shifts the emphasis:
– Menen heti puistoon (neutral)
– Puistoon menen heti (focus on the destination)
– Heti puistoon menen (focus on immediacy).