Learn Hardcore Finnish: Minä tuon koiran sisään, koska ulkona on kylmä. - I bring the dog inside because it is cold outside.

In Finnish the verb form tuon already tells you it’s first‐person singular (“I bring”). Including Minä is optional and adds emphasis or clarity. Native speakers often omit it in casual speech: “Tuon koiran sisään, koska ulkona on kylmä.”

What does tuon mean exactly?

Tuon is the present tense, first‐person singular of the verb tuoda, meaning “to bring (here).” So tuon = “I bring.”

Why is the word koiran not just koira?

Koiran is in the accusative (often identical to genitive) singular, used for a complete direct object. You’re bringing the entire dog inside, so you mark it as a complete object. If it were a partitive object (e.g. “some of the dog”), you would use koiraa, but that doesn’t make sense here.

What role does sisään play in this sentence?

Sisään is an adverb (or postposition) meaning “into” or “inside.” It indicates the direction of the action. Together tuon … sisään means “I bring … inside.”

Why is there a comma before koska?

In Finnish, subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like koska (“because”) are separated from the main clause by a comma. The comma helps to clearly mark the beginning of the subordinate clause.

What exactly does koska mean, and could I use a different word for “because”?

Koska means “because” and introduces a reason clause. You could also say sillä in colloquial spoken Finnish (“sillä ulkona on kylmä”) or siitä syystä että, but koska is the most common and neutral.

Why is ulkona used here instead of ulos or another form?

Ulkona is the locative adverb meaning “outside” in the sense of “outdoors.”

ulos means “out” as in movement from inside to outside.
ulkona describes the state or location: “It’s cold outside.”

Why is kylmä in the nominative form?

After the verb olla (“to be”), adjectives that function as predicates stay in the nominative. Here on kylmä literally means “is cold,” so kylmä remains in its base form.

Can I change the word order, for example to “On kylmä ulkona, joten tuon koiran sisään”?

Yes. Finnish word order is relatively flexible. You can start with the weather clause (On kylmä ulkona) and then state your action (tuon koiran sisään). You can also replace koska with joten (“so”) if you reorder the clauses.

How do you pronounce the vowels u, y and ä in this sentence?

Finnish pronunciation is very regular:
• u is pronounced [u], like the oo in “boot” but shorter.
• y is a front‐rounded vowel [y], similar to French u in “tu” or German ü.
• ä is [æ], like the a in English “cat.”
Stress is always on the first syllable: TU-on, KOI-ran, KYL-mä.