Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Finnish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Minä pesen auton ulkona.
Why is Minä optional in this sentence?
In Finnish the verb ending already tells you who is doing the action. Here -n on pesen marks first person singular, so Minä (“I”) is redundant unless you want to add emphasis or clarity. It’s common in spoken and written Finnish to drop the subject pronoun.
How can you tell who is washing the car if you omit Minä?
The personal ending on the verb does the work. In pesen, the -n ending signals “I.” Every Finnish verb form carries person and number, so you know it’s “I wash.”
Why is the verb “wash” in Finnish written as pesen and not something like pesaan or pesin?
Pesen is the first person singular present form of the verb pestä (“to wash”). Type-2 verbs like pestä form the present stem by dropping t (yielding pese-) and then adding the personal ending -n for “I.”
Why is the car called auton instead of auto?
Auton is the accusative (direct object) form of auto. In Finnish, a specific, completed object often takes the -n ending. So “I wash the car” becomes pesen auton.
What case exactly is auton, and what does that case signify?
It’s officially the accusative case (often identical in form to the genitive singular). It marks a definite direct object—something you’re washing completely.
Why don’t we see any word for “the” or “a” before auto?
Finnish has no articles. Definite vs. indefinite meaning is inferred from context and grammatical marking (cases), not by separate words.
What does ulkona mean, and why isn’t it just ulkio or something similar?
Ulkona literally means “outside” as a location adverb. It comes from an old essive or state-of-being ending -na, which here functions like an adverbial suffix. You use ulkona whenever you want to say you do something outdoors.
Can you drop Minä and just say Pesen auton ulkona?
Yes. Pesen auton ulkona is perfectly natural and even more colloquial. The meaning stays “I wash the car outside.”
Is the word order fixed? What if you say Ulkona pesen auton?
Word order in Finnish is quite flexible. Ulkona pesen auton shifts emphasis to outside (“It’s outside that I wash the car”), but the basic meaning remains the same.