Learn Hardcore Finnish: Naapurusto on hiljainen illalla, ja se tuo mukavaa hiljaisuutta arkeen. - The neighborhood is quiet in the evening, and it brings pleasant silence to everyday life.

naapurusto means “neighborhood.” It’s built from the noun naapuri (“neighbor”) plus the collective suffix -sto, which turns a group of individual items (here, neighbors) into a single concept.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before naapurusto?

Finnish has no articles (no “the” or “a”). Definiteness and indefiniteness are understood from context, so you simply use the noun in its normal form.

What case is illalla and why is it used here?

illalla is the adessive (also called the “time case”) of ilta (“evening”), formed by adding -lla. It expresses “in the evening” as a time adverbial for when something happens.

Why is hiljainen in the nominative singular here?

hiljainen is a predicate adjective describing naapurusto (which is in the nominative singular). In Finnish, adjectives used after on (the verb “to be”) stay in the nominative to agree with the subject.

How does se function in this sentence?

se is the third-person singular pronoun (“it”). Here it refers back to naapurusto (“neighborhood”), keeping the subject clear without repeating the whole word. In Finnish, se works for all grammatical genders.

Why is mukavaa hiljaisuutta in the partitive case?

The verb tuo (“brings” or “contributes”) often takes a partitive object when referring to an indefinite amount or an unbounded process. Because “nice quietness” is a general, unquantified quality, both mukavaa and hiljaisuutta appear in the partitive singular.

What is arkeen and why is the illative case used?

arkeen is the illative form of arki (“everyday life”), marked by -een, and literally means “into everyday life.” It indicates the direction or target of the action: the quietness is brought into one’s daily routine.

Why do we see two related words hiljainen and hiljaisuutta?

They share the root hilja- (“quiet”). hiljainen is an adjective (“quiet”), while hiljaisuus (noun) means “quietness” or “silence.” The form hiljaisuutta is its partitive, used here to express an indefinite “amount” of quietness.

Is the word order Naapurusto on hiljainen illalla fixed? Could the time adverbial come first?

Word order in Finnish is relatively flexible. You could say Illalla naapurusto on hiljainen to emphasize illalla (“in the evening”). The original order is neutral: subject – predicate – time expression. It communicates a straightforward, unmarked statement.