Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla, joten suljen oven.

Loud noise disturbs me in the morning, so I close the door.

Breakdown of Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla, joten suljen oven.

• sulkea: to close
• ovi: the door
• aamu: the morning
• joten: so
• -lla: in
• minua: me
• melu: the noise
• kova: loud
• häiritä: to disturb

Questions & Answers about Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla, joten suljen oven.

In the phrase kova melu, what does kova mean exactly, and why isn’t kovaa used here?

Kova is an adjective that literally means hard, but when it describes sound or noise, it usually means loud. So kova melu = loud noise.

Why kova and not kovaa?

• kova is the basic (nominative) form of the adjective, matching the noun melu which is also in the nominative:

  • kova melu = loud noise (as the subject of the sentence).

• kovaa is the partitive form, or sometimes an adverb meaning “loudly”. For example:

  • Hän puhuu kovaa. = He/She speaks loudly.
  • Kuulin kovaa melua. = I heard loud noise. (Here kovaa melua is an object, so both words are in partitive.)

In your sentence, kova melu is the subject, so it’s in nominative: kova melu häiritsee = loud noise disturbs (me).

Why is melu singular in Finnish when in English we might say “loud noises” or “a lot of noise”?

In Finnish, melu behaves like an uncountable mass noun, similar to noise in English.

• Kova melu häiritsee minua.
  Literally: Loud noise disturbs me.

English often chooses between noise (uncountable) and noises (countable) depending on style and nuance. Finnish typically just uses melu for noise in general, without switching to a plural form.

If you wanted to emphasise multiple separate sounds, you might use äänet (sounds), but that slightly changes the nuance:

• Kovat äänet häiritsevät minua. = Loud sounds disturb me.
  (Now äänet is plural, so the verb becomes häiritsevät.)

Why is the verb häiritsee (3rd person singular) and not häiritsevät?

The verb has to agree with the subject in number and person.

• Subject: kova melu = melu is singular.
• Therefore the verb is häiritsee (3rd person singular present).

If the subject were plural, the verb would be plural:

• Kovat äänet häiritsevät minua.
  (äänet = plural, so häiritsevät.)

So:

• kova melu häiritsee = loud noise disturbs
• kovat äänet häiritsevät = loud sounds disturb

Why is it minua and not minut or minulle?

Minua is the partitive form of minä (“I”), and some verbs always or typically take their object in the partitive, especially verbs of feeling, perception, or influence. Häiritä (“to disturb, bother”) is one of these verbs.

Case forms of minä (singular, relevant ones):

• minä = I (nominative, subject)
• minut = me (accusative, complete direct object, e.g., “You saw me”)
• minua = me (partitive, incomplete/abstract/typical object for some verbs)
• minulle = to me (allative, indirect object, “to/for me”)

With häiritä, you virtually always say:

• Melu häiritsee minua. = Noise disturbs me.
• Tämä musiikki häiritsee minua. = This music bothers me.

Using minut here would be ungrammatical, and minulle would change the meaning to something like “disturbs to me”, which doesn’t work in Finnish.

What tense is häiritsee and suljen, and how is that tense used in Finnish?

Both häiritsee and suljen are in the present tense.

• häiritsee = (he/she/it) disturbs
• suljen = I close

Finnish present tense is used for:

1. Current actions / states

   • Melu häiritsee minua. = The noise is bothering me / bothers me (now).

2. Habitual actions (things that usually happen)

   • Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla. = Loud noise bothers me in the morning(s).

3. Near-future actions (where English might use “will”)

   • Huomenna suljen oven aikaisin. = Tomorrow I will close the door early.

So the Finnish present can correspond to English simple present, present continuous, or simple future, depending on context.

What does aamulla mean exactly, and what case is it in?

Aamulla comes from aamu (morning) and is in the adessive case (-lla/-llä).

In time expressions, the adessive often means “at/on (a time of day)”:

• aamulla = in the morning / at morning
• päivällä = in the afternoon/daytime
• illalla = in the evening
• yöllä = at night

So minua aamulla can be understood as (that) in the morning (it) bothers me.

Other related forms of aamu:

• aamuna (essive): on a (particular) morning
  
  • Eräänä aamuna = on one morning / one morning
• aamuisin: in the mornings, usually / habitually
  
  • Kova melu häiritsee minua aamuisin. = Loud noise bothers me in the mornings (as a general habit).

Why is there a comma before joten, and what does joten mean exactly?

Joten means so / therefore, introducing a result or consequence:

• Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla, joten suljen oven.
  = Loud noise bothers me in the morning, so I close the door.

In Finnish, when you join two full clauses (each with its own verb and subject) with a conjunction like joten, you usually put a comma before it:

• Clause 1: Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla
• Clause 2: suljen oven

→ …, joten …

Other similar conjunctions that typically have a comma before them:

• mutta = but
• koska = because
• vaikka = although

So the comma is normal Finnish punctuation, marking the boundary between two clauses.

Is joten formal, casual, or neutral? Could I use something else instead?

Joten is generally neutral written Finnish. It appears often in texts, explanations, and narratives.

Other ways to express the same idea:

• siksi = therefore / that’s why

  • Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla, siksi suljen oven.

• niinpä = so / and so / thus (a bit narrative in tone)

  • Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla, niinpä suljen oven.

• sen takia / sen vuoksi = because of that / for that reason

  • Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla, sen takia suljen oven.

Spoken Finnish can also use these, but joten is especially common in written or somewhat more careful speech. All of the above are acceptable and common.

What does suljen come from, and how is it conjugated?

The dictionary form is sulkea = to close (a door, window, etc.).

Its present tense (singular):

• minä suljen = I close
• sinä suljet = you close
• hän sulkee = he/she closes

So suljen is:

• sulje- (verb stem)
• -n (1st person singular ending)

You don’t need to say minä explicitly; the -n ending already shows that the subject is I. So:

• Minä suljen oven. and Suljen oven.
  both mean I close the door.

Why is it oven and not ovi or ovea?

Ovi = door (basic form, nominative).
Oven = genitive / accusative form.
Ovea = partitive form.

In suljen oven, oven is a total direct object: you close the whole door, and the action is seen as completed.

Finnish distinguishes:

• Total object (genitive/accusative form → oven)

  • Suljen oven. = I (completely) close the door.
    The action is bounded/completed.

• Partial / ongoing / incomplete object (partitive → ovea)

  • Suljen ovea.
    This would suggest an ongoing or incomplete action like “I’m (in the middle of) closing the door”, or a process that’s not seen as completed. It’s rare in isolation and normally needs context.

Because “I close the door” is understood as a complete action, oven is the natural and correct choice here.

Why is there no pronoun minä before suljen, even though it means “I close”?

In Finnish, personal pronouns are often omitted when the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

• suljen ends in -n, which marks 1st person singular.
  So suljen by itself means I close.

You can say Minä suljen oven if you want to:

• add emphasis (e.g., “I’ll close the door (not you)”), or
• speak very clearly as a learner.

But in normal fluent Finnish, Minä is frequently left out when it’s obvious from the verb ending:

• Suljen oven. = I close the door.
• Menin kotiin. = I went home.
• Syön nyt. = I’m eating now.

Can the word order be changed? For example, can I say Aamulla kova melu häiritsee minua?

Yes, Finnish word order is relatively flexible, and you can move elements to:

• highlight them, or
• make the sentence sound more natural in context.

Some possible variants:

1. Aamulla kova melu häiritsee minua, joten suljen oven.

   • Emphasis on aamulla (in the morning).

2. Aamulla minua häiritsee kova melu, joten suljen oven.

   • Emphasis on minua and then on what bothers me (kova melu).

3. Kova melu aamulla häiritsee minua, joten suljen oven.

   • Closer grouping of kova melu and aamulla.

The original order:

• Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla, joten suljen oven.

is very natural and neutral, but the other orders are also grammatically correct. The main rules are:

• Verb usually stays in the second position or early in the clause.
• Other elements move around mainly for emphasis, not to change basic meaning.

Is there a difference between “in the morning” as a one-time event and “in the mornings” (habitual) in this sentence?

Yes, Finnish can mark that difference with different time expressions:

• Kova melu häiritsee minua aamulla.

  • Depending on context, this can be understood as:
    • this morning / on a specific morning, or
    • in the morning (generally).
      Finnish present tense plus aamulla is often interpreted as habitual if there’s no other context.

• Kova melu häiritsee minua aamuisin.

  • This clearly means in the mornings, as a habit / usually.

So if you really want to stress that it happens regularly, aamuisin is a good choice. The original aamulla is slightly more neutral and relies on context to be read as one-time or habitual.