Breakdown of Kotini on ylin kerroksessa.
Questions & Answers about Kotini on ylin kerroksessa.
Kotini means “my home.” The suffix -ni is the first-person singular possessive suffix, equivalent to my in English. You attach it directly to the noun koti:
koti + -ni → kotini
Without -ni, koti would simply be “home” with no owner indicated. You can also say minun kotini, but the suffix -ni is still required in standard Finnish.
Ylin is the bare superlative form of ylä (“upper/above”), meaning “topmost” or “highest.” The degrees go:
positive: ylä (“upper”)
comparative: ylempi (“more upper/higher”)
superlative: ylin (“uppermost/highest”)
The bare superlative ylin can stand in front of a noun in its basic (nominative) form, e.g. ylin kerros = “top floor.”
Yes. Finnish has a fairly free word order. Placing ylin kerroksessa at the front emphasizes the location:
Ylin kerroksessa on kotini.
= “On the top floor, my home is.”
The core meaning stays the same.
Yes. You can swap koti for other nouns with the first-person suffix to change the nuance:
talossani (“in my house/building”)
asuntossani (“in my apartment”)
Koti stresses the idea of home as a personal place, while talo is simply the physical house and asunto the apartment unit.