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Questions & Answers about Syksyllä hinta laskee.
Why is Syksyllä in the adessive case rather than the more familiar inessive case (syksyssä)?
In Finnish, to express “in” when talking about time (like seasons, months, years), you use the adessive case (-lla/-llä) rather than the inessive (-ssa/-ssä). So syksy (autumn) becomes syksyllä to mean “in autumn.”
What role does Syksyllä play in the sentence?
Syksyllä is a temporal adverbial—it tells us when something happens. Placing time expressions first is common in Finnish, but you could also put it at the end:
- Hinta laskee syksyllä.
Why is there no article before hinta?
Finnish does not have definite or indefinite articles (no “a” or “the”). Nouns stand alone, and context tells you whether you mean “a price,” “the price,” or “prices” in general.
Why is hinta in the nominative singular here?
Because it is the sentence’s subject and we’re talking about “the price” as a single entity. If you wanted to talk about multiple prices, you’d say hinnat laskevat syksyllä (plural subject + plural verb).
How do you know that laskee is third person singular present tense?
From the ending: verbs in the present tense 3rd person singular end in -ee, -aa, or -ttää depending on their type. Laskea (to fall/drop) becomes laskee for “(it) falls” or “(it) drops.”
Can the verb come before hinta, as in Syksyllä laskee hinta?
Yes, Finnish word order is relatively free. Moving the verb can add emphasis or a poetic feel, but the basic meaning remains the same. Typical neutral order is Subject–Verb–Object or Time–Subject–Verb.
Does this sentence imply a one-time event or a habitual/regular occurrence?
By itself it’s ambiguous. Often it’s understood as a regular seasonal pattern (“in autumn the price usually drops”). If you want to stress a single event, you might add context words like tänä syksynä (“this autumn”) or use past tense: Syksyllä hinta laski (“In autumn the price fell”).