Pidä takki päällä, koska ulkona on kylmä.

Keep your coat on because it is cold outside.

Breakdown of Pidä takki päällä, koska ulkona on kylmä.

• olla: to be
• ulkona: outside
• koska: because
• kylmä: cold
• takki: the coat
• pitää päällä: to keep on

Questions & Answers about Pidä takki päällä, koska ulkona on kylmä.

What form is the word in the beginning, and what does it tell me?

Pidä is the 2nd person singular imperative of the verb pitää (“to keep/hold”). It’s a direct command addressed to one person: “Keep …”

• Negative imperative: Älä pidä … (“Don’t keep …”)
• To address several people: Pitäkää … (“Keep …” to you all)

Why is it takki (nominative) and not takkia (partitive) or takin (genitive)?

In 2nd-person singular affirmative imperatives, a “total” object is typically in the nominative form for nouns. So Pidä takki … is the default.

• You can also hear the partitive: Pidä takkia päällä, which can emphasize an ongoing process or an open-ended duration (“keep wearing your coat (for the time being)”); but Pidä takki päällä is the most common, neutral instruction about maintaining the state.
• Takin päällä would mean “on top of the coat,” which is a different structure (see below).

What exactly does the phrase takki päällä mean, structurally?

It’s a set expression meaning “with (one’s) coat on.” Here päällä functions like “on (someone)” rather than “on top of X.”

• Think of the pattern: olla X päällä = “to have X on (one’s body)”
  
  • Example: Minulla on takki päällä = “I have a coat on.”
    In Pidä takki päällä, “takki” is the thing being kept in the “on-you” state.

Why not say takin päällä here?

Takin päällä (genitive + päällä) means “on top of the coat,” as a physical location:

• Hattu on takin päällä. = “The hat is on top of the coat.”
  In your sentence, we’re not locating something on top of the coat; we’re saying “keep the coat on (you),” so we use takki päällä.

What’s the difference between päällä, päälle, and päältä?

They express state vs. direction:

• päällä = on (state): Pidä takki päällä. (“Keep the coat on.”)
• päälle = onto (movement to): Pue takki päälle. (“Put the coat on.”)
• päältä = off (movement from): Ota takki pois päältä. (“Take the coat off.”)
  Colloquially, you can also just say Riisu takki (“Take off your coat”).

Do I need to mark whose coat it is with a possessive suffix?

Not necessarily. In context, it’s clear the coat is yours. You have options:

• Neutral and common: Pidä takki päällä.
• More explicit (and a bit more careful/formal): Pidä takki päälläsi.
• You can also mark the noun: Pidä takkisi päällä.
  Putting -si on päällä emphasizes “on you”; putting it on takki emphasizes “your coat.” Both are correct.

Could I use yllä instead of päällä for clothing?

Yes, yllä also means “on (one’s body).” It’s more literary/formal.

• Pidä takki ylläsi is correct but sounds more formal than Pidä takki päällä(si), which is the everyday choice.

Why is there a comma before koska?

Finnish uses a comma before subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like koska (“because”). So the comma is standard:

• Pidä takki päällä, koska ulkona on kylmä.

Could I use something other than koska to say “because”?

• koska = because (answers “why”).
• sillä = for, since (more formal, links to a following independent clause: “..., for ...”).
• kun often means “when,” but in spoken Finnish it can also mean “because.”
  Examples:
• Pidä takki päällä, sillä ulkona on kylmä. (more formal tone)
• Spoken: Pidä takki päällä, kun ulkona on kylmä.

What case or form is ulkona, and what are the related forms?

Ulkona is a location adverb meaning “outside.” It belongs to a common three-way directional set:

• ulkona = (at) outside (location)
• ulos = (to the) outside (movement to)
• ulkoa = from outside (movement from)
  Similarly: sisällä/sisään/sisältä for “inside/into/from inside.”

Why is it on kylmä and not on kylmää?

Both can occur, with nuance:

• on kylmä (nominative predicate) states the property plainly: “it is cold.”
• on kylmää (partitive predicate) can sound more like an indefinite, “there’s (some) coldness; it’s kind of cold.”
  In weather talk, Ulkona on kylmä is the most typical choice; on kylmää is also possible but less common here.

Why not say Se on kylmä ulkona for “It’s cold outside”?

Finnish weather expressions usually don’t use a dummy subject like English “it.” You typically say:

• Ulkona on kylmä.
  If you say Se on kylmä, it refers to some specific thing (“That is cold”), not the weather. You can also say Siellä on kylmä (“It’s cold there”) when the place is known from context.

How do I make this instruction more polite or address more than one person?

• To a group: Pitäkää takki päällä, koska ulkona on kylmä.
• To soften to one person, use particles or conditional:
  
  • Pidäthän takki päällä…
  • Voisitko pitää takin päällä…? (conditional request)
  • Pidä takki päällä, jooko? (colloquial “okay?”)

Does pitää here mean the same as in “to like”?

No. Finnish has two common uses of pitää:

• pitää + object = to keep/hold: Pidä takki päällä.
• pitää + elative (jostakin) = to like: Pidän takista. (“I like the coat.”)
  They’re distinguished by their complements.

How would I say “Put your coat on” vs. “Keep your coat on” vs. “Take your coat off”?

• Put on: Pue takki päälle.
• Keep on: Pidä takki päällä.
• Take off: Ota takki pois päältä. or simply Riisu takki.

Any pronunciation tips for this sentence?

• Pidä: stress on the first syllable; ä is a front vowel (not like English “a”).
• takki: double consonant kk is held longer: [tak-ki].
• päällä: long ää (hold it), and double ll; roughly [pæːlːæ].
• ulkona: clear syllables [ul-ko-na].
• Finnish stress is always on the first syllable of each word.