Learn Hardcore Finnish: Täytän vesipullon ennen lähtöä, sehän on tärkeää. - I fill the water bottle before leaving; that is important, you know.

Sehän is se (it) + the clitic -hän/-hän. The clitic adds a nuance like “as you know,” “after all,” or “you see,” presenting the statement as shared/obvious information or a gentle reminder. It’s often used to:

Soften assertions and commands.
Seek agreement or build rapport.
Emphasize something the speaker thinks should be evident.

Compare:

Se on tärkeää. It is important. (neutral)
Sehän on tärkeää. It’s important, after all / as you know it is.

Note: This -hän is a clitic particle, not the pronoun hän (“he/she”).

Why is tärkeää in the partitive (not tärkeä)?

With abstract or clause-like subjects (here, se refers to the whole idea “filling the bottle before leaving”), Finnish typically uses a partitive predicative: Se on tärkeää (“That is important” in a general, non-countable sense). Use nominative (tärkeä) when describing a concrete, countable noun:

Se koira on tärkeä. That dog is important.
But: Se on tärkeää = “That (fact/action) is important.”

Why does vesipullon end in -n?

It’s the object in a “complete” action, so it appears in the (genitive-form) accusative: vesipullo → vesipullon. Finnish marks “total” objects with this -n form in the singular.

Täytän vesipullon. I (will) fill the bottle (to completion).
If the action is ongoing/partial, the object is partitive: Täytän vesipulloa (“I’m filling the bottle,” not necessarily to completion).

Why is it ennen lähtöä and not something like ennen lähtö or lähdön?

The preposition ennen (“before”) governs the partitive. So you use ennen + partitive:

ennen lähtöä = before (the) departure. By contrast, jälkeen (“after”) governs the genitive:
lähdön jälkeen = after (the) departure.

Could I say “before I leave” with a full clause instead of a noun?

Yes. Use ennen kuin + a finite verb:

Täytän vesipullon ennen kuin lähden. I fill the water bottle before I leave. Rule of thumb:
ennen + partitive noun (ennen lähtöä)
ennen kuin + clause (ennen kuin lähden)

Is the comma before sehän correct?

Yes. Finnish allows a comma between two independent clauses more freely than English. Here, the comma separates two main clauses: Täytän…, sehän on…. In English you’d often use a semicolon or add a conjunction.

Does täytän mean “I fill” or “I will fill”? There’s no separate future, right?

Correct—Finnish has no dedicated future tense. Täytän (1st person singular present of täyttää) covers both present and near-future. Context supplies the time:

Here, with ennen (“before”), it naturally reads as a future plan: “I’ll fill…”

Why is minä not present? Can I add it?

Personal pronouns are usually dropped because the verb ending shows the person. Täytän already means “I fill.” You can add minä for emphasis or contrast:

Minä täytän vesipullon… (I, as opposed to someone else, will fill…)

Could I say Täytän vesipulloni to show it’s my bottle?

Absolutely. Possession can be shown with the possessive suffix:

vesipulloni = my water bottle You could also say minun vesipulloni (explicit “my”), or just vesipullon if ownership is clear from context.

What’s the difference between “fill the bottle” and “fill the bottle with water” in Finnish?

Täytän vesipullon. I fill the water bottle. (What you fill it with is understood.)
To specify the substance, use the adessive on the filler: Täytän pullon vedellä. I fill the bottle with water.
Or use “into”: Täytän vettä pulloon. I’m putting water into the bottle (focus on the substance going in).

Can I change the word order?

Yes, Finnish word order is flexible for emphasis/information flow:

Ennen lähtöä täytän vesipullon, sehän on tärkeää. (Fronts the time.)
Vesipullon täytän ennen lähtöä… (Emphasizes the object.) The core grammar (cases and endings) keeps the meaning clear.

Is ennen a preposition or a postposition?

In this use, ennen is a preposition placed before its complement and requires the partitive: ennen lähtöä. With a clause, it becomes the conjunction-like sequence ennen kuin.

What does vesipullo consist of? Why is it one word?

It’s a compound noun: vesi (water) + pullo (bottle) → vesipullo (water bottle). Finnish commonly writes compounds as single words.

Could I say Se on tärkeä instead of Se on tärkeää?

Only if se refers to a specific countable thing (e.g., “That device is important”). When se points to an abstract idea/action (like “filling the bottle before leaving”), Finnish prefers the partitive: Se on tärkeää.

Is there any risk of confusing sehän with the pronoun hän (“he/she”)?

They’re distinct:

sehän = se
- clitic -hän (“it, after all”).
hän alone is the 3rd-person human pronoun “he/she.” Context and form keep them separate.