Kuljen metrolla harvemmin kuin bussilla.

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Breakdown of Kuljen metrolla harvemmin kuin bussilla.

• -lla: by
• kulkea: to commute
• bussi: the bus

Questions & Answers about Kuljen metrolla harvemmin kuin bussilla.

What does kuljen mean here?

Kuljen is the 1st person singular present tense of kulkea.

In this sentence, kulkea means something like go / travel / get around. It often describes a general way of moving from place to place, especially as a habit or usual pattern.

So here it is not specifically walk. Because the sentence includes metrolla and bussilla, the meaning is clearly about travelling by those means of transport.

Why is there no minä?

Finnish usually leaves out subject pronouns when they are obvious from the verb ending.

• kuljen = I go / I travel
• the ending -n already tells you the subject is I

So Kuljen metrolla... is perfectly normal.
You could say Minä kuljen metrolla..., but that would usually add emphasis or contrast, for example if you are comparing yourself with someone else.

Why are metrolla and bussilla in that form?

They are in the adessive case, which has the ending -lla / -llä.

With means of transport, Finnish often uses this case to express by:

• metrolla = by metro
• bussilla = by bus
• junalla = by train
• autolla = by car

So instead of using a separate word like English by, Finnish often changes the noun ending.