Pankkiautomaatti on kadun kulmassa.

to be

Breakdown of Pankkiautomaatti on kadun kulmassa.

• -ssa: in
• katu: the street
• kulma: the corner

Questions & Answers about Pankkiautomaatti on kadun kulmassa.

What does pankkiautomaatti mean, and why is it written as one long word?

Pankkiautomaatti literally combines pankki (“bank”) + automaatti (“machine”), so it means “ATM” or “bank machine.” Finnish often forms compounds by simply sticking words together without spaces.

Why is kadun in the genitive case (–n ending)?

Kadun is the genitive form of katu (“street”). It shows possession or belonging: kadun kulma means “the corner of the street.” In Finnish, the thing you’re “in” or “on” often takes genitive when it modifies another noun.

What case is kulmassa, and what does it tell us?

Kulmassa is in the inessive case (–ssa ending), which means “in” or “inside.” So kulmassa = “in the corner.”

Why don’t we see any words meaning “the” or “a” in this sentence?

Finnish doesn’t use articles. Definiteness and indefiniteness are inferred from context or added particles, not separate words like the or a.

Why is there no preposition like “in” or “at” before kadun kulmassa?

Finnish expresses spatial relations with cases (here, genitive + inessive) rather than separate prepositions. The case endings tell you “in,” “on,” “at,” etc.