Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Finnish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Tuoli pyörii lattialla.
What does Tuoli mean, and why isn’t there an article like the or a?
Tuoli means chair. Finnish has no articles (a, an, the). One word can cover both “a chair” and “the chair” – context tells you which.
What does pyörii mean, and how is it formed?
pyörii is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb pyöriä, which means “to spin” or “to rotate.” You take the stem pyöri-, add the personal ending -i for he/she/it, and since the stem already ends in i, you get a long ii.
Why is there a double i in pyörii?
The stem pyöri- ends in i, and the 3rd-person-singular present ending is -i. When identical vowels meet, Finnish lengthens them: ii is just a long i sound.
What case is lattialla, and what does it indicate?
lattialla is the adessive case (suffix -lla/-llä). It indicates location “on” a surface. So lattialla literally means “on the floor.”
Why is the suffix -lla and not -llä in lattialla?
Finnish vowel harmony dictates which vowel appears in a suffix. lattia contains the back vowel a, so it takes the back-vowel form -lla rather than the front-vowel -llä.
Could you say “on the floor” in any other way?
Yes. You can use the genitive plus päällä: lattian päällä (lattia → genitive lattian, plus päällä “on top of”). It literally means “on top of the floor.”
How do you pronounce pyörii, and what are the sounds y and ö?
pyörii is pronounced roughly [pyø.riː].
- y = close front rounded vowel (like German ü)
- ö = close-mid front rounded vowel (like German ö)
The double ii is a long i sound.
Does Finnish require the subject before the verb as in Tuoli pyörii lattialla?
No, word order in Finnish is quite flexible. Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) is neutral, but you can move parts for emphasis. E.g. Lattialla pyörii tuoli (“On the floor spins a chair”) shifts the focus to lattialla.