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Questions & Answers about Huomenna saattaa sataa.
What are the parts of this sentence?
- Huomenna = tomorrow (an adverb formed with the essive case ending -na).
- saattaa = may, might (3rd person singular present of the verb saattaa used as a modal).
- sataa = to rain (the first infinitive; it happens to look the same as the 3rd person singular present for this verb type).
Why is there no subject like “it” (as in “it might rain”)?
Finnish weather verbs are impersonal: sataa does not take a subject. You simply say Sataa (“It’s raining”) without an expletive pronoun. Because the main verb is subjectless, the modal saattaa appears in 3rd person singular by default.
Is sataa here an infinitive or a present-tense verb?
Here it’s the infinitive (the form that follows modal verbs such as saattaa, voida, pitää). It looks identical to the 3rd person singular present for this verb, which is why it can be confusing. In this sentence, only saattaa is conjugated; sataa stays in the base infinitive form.
How strong is saattaa? What nuance does it add?
Saattaa expresses neutral possibility (“there’s a chance”). Rough guide to common markers:
- weaker/neutral: ehkä, voi, saattaa
- more likely: taitaa (“probably”), varmaan / luultavasti (“probably”)
- unlikely: tuskin (“hardly, unlikely”) So Huomenna saattaa sataa ≈ “It might rain tomorrow,” with no commitment either way.
Can I say Huomenna ehkä sataa instead?
Yes. Ehkä is an adverb meaning “maybe.” Both Huomenna saattaa sataa and Huomenna ehkä sataa are natural. Saattaa sounds a touch more formal/bookish; ehkä is very common in speech.
Can I change the word order?
Yes, within reason. Acceptable variants include:
- Saattaa sataa huomenna.
- Ehkä huomenna sataa.
- Huomenna voi sataa. Word order in Finnish is flexible and mostly affects emphasis. Don’t say something like Sataa huomenna saattaa—that’s not idiomatic.
How would I ask “Might it rain tomorrow?”
Most natural is simply: Sataako huomenna? If you want to keep the modal, you can ask: Saattaako huomenna sataa? (possible but less common in casual speech). A wondering tone is: Sataakohan huomenna? (adds “I wonder if…”).
What case is huomenna, and why does it end in -na?
Huomenna is in the essive case. The essive is often used in time expressions to mean “on/as (that day/occasion).” Other examples: maanantaina (on Monday), jouluna (at Christmas).
How do I pronounce saattaa vs sataa?
- saattaa has a long vowel and a double consonant: [saa-ttaa]. Both the first a and the tt are long.
- sataa has a single t: [sa-taa]. Finnish distinguishes length, so saattaa and sataa sound clearly different.
Can I specify what falls? Like “might snow”?
Yes. Use a mass noun in the partitive after sataa:
- Huomenna saattaa sataa lunta (might snow).
- Huomenna saattaa sataa räntää / rakeita / vettä. With weather, these nouns typically appear in the partitive.
How do I say the negative “It might not rain tomorrow”?
Natural options:
- Huomenna ei taida sataa. (It probably won’t rain.)
- Huomenna tuskin sataa. (It’s unlikely to rain.)
- Saattaa olla, ettei huomenna sada. (It may be that it won’t rain.) Using ei saattaa is generally avoided; Finnish prefers these other patterns for negating uncertainty.
How do I talk about past possibility (e.g., “It might have rained yesterday”)?
Use the past of the modal plus the infinitive:
- Eilen saattoi sataa. You can add adverbs for nuance: Eilen saattoi sataa vähän.
Does saattaa mean anything else?
Yes. Besides “may/might,” saattaa also means “to accompany/see (someone) off.” Example: Saatan sinut kotiin (“I’ll walk you home”). Context disambiguates the meanings.
Why is present tense used for a future meaning?
Finnish doesn’t have a separate future tense. The present covers future time when context or a time word indicates it. Huomenna saattaa sataa literally uses the present, but huomenna anchors it in the future.