Learn Hardcore Finnish: Päivitän profiilin kuvan, koska edellinen kuva oli tylsä. - I update the profile picture because the previous picture was boring.

actions happening right now
- Päivitän profiilin kuvan. – I’m updating the profile picture (right now).
near-future actions (where English uses “I will / I’m going to”)
- Päivitän profiilin kuvan myöhemmin. – I’ll update / I’m going to update the profile picture later.

There is no separate “will” form like in English; context decides whether it’s present or future.

Why do we say profiilin kuvan and not just profiilikuva?

Both are possible, but they’re slightly different structures.

Profiilin kuvan
- profiilin = of the profile (genitive of profiili)
- kuvan = picture (here the direct object)
- Literally: “the profile’s picture”
This is a genitive chain: the profile’s picture. It’s quite clear and correct.
Profiilikuvan
- This is a compound noun: profiili
  - kuva → profiilikuva (profile picture), then in the object form profiilikuvan.
- Päivitän profiilikuvan is very natural and probably the most common way to say “I’m updating the profile picture.”

So:

Päivitän profiilin kuvan – completely correct, a bit more “literal” (the profile’s picture).
Päivitän profiilikuvan – very idiomatic; this is what people usually say.

Both are perfectly understandable.

Why is it kuvan and not kuva or kuvaa?

This is about object case, which is tricky for English speakers.

The base word is kuva (picture).
In the sentence, kuvan is the object of päivitän (I update).

For a complete, bounded action affecting the whole thing, Finnish uses the total object, which for a singular noun often looks like the genitive:

päivitän kuvan – I (will) update the picture (as a complete, finished action).

By contrast, kuvaa (partitive) would suggest an unbounded or incomplete action, or “some of the picture”:

päivitän kuvaa – sounds like you’re in the process of updating or editing a picture, not clearly finishing the job, or only updating it partially. In this context it would be odd.

So here we want to talk about updating the whole profile picture as a completed task, so kuvan is the natural form.

Why does profiilin also end in -n? Isn’t -n already the object ending on kuvan?

Good observation: both words have -n, but for different reasons.

profiilin = genitive of profiili (profile), meaning “of the profile”.
kuvan = total object form of kuva (picture), functioning as the direct object.

Structure:

päivitän – (I) update
profiilin – the profile’s
kuvan – picture (object)

So this is:

profiilin kuvan = the profile’s picture.

In Finnish, an attributive genitive (something “belonging to” or associated with something else) precedes the main noun:

koiran talo – the dog’s house
firman logo – the company’s logo
profiilin kuva – the profile’s picture

When that main noun (kuva) becomes an object, it gets its own ending (kuvan), but the attributive word (profiilin) stays in genitive anyway. So you naturally get two -n endings in a row.

Could I omit profiilin and just say päivitän kuvan?

Grammatically yes, but it changes the meaning.

Päivitän kuvan. – I’m updating the picture. (Some picture, context decides which.)
Päivitän profiilin kuvan. – I’m updating the profile picture. (Specifically the picture related to the profile.)

Without profiilin (or profiili- inside a compound like profiilikuva), the sentence no longer explicitly says it’s the profile picture. In a conversation where it’s totally obvious you’re talking about profile pictures, päivitän kuvan might be understood, but it’s less precise.

What does koska mean, and do you always need a comma before it?

Koska is a conjunction meaning “because”.

Päivitän profiilin kuvan, koska edellinen kuva oli tylsä.
= I’m updating the profile picture because the previous picture was boring.

About the comma:

Written Finnish normally uses a comma before koska when it starts a subordinate clause, even if English wouldn’t always have one.
- Hyppään pois, koska bussi on jo perillä.
  I’m getting off because the bus is already there.

So yes: in standard written Finnish, put a comma before koska in a sentence like this.

Could you also say Koska edellinen kuva oli tylsä, päivitän profiilin kuvan? Is that still natural?

Yes, that’s perfectly natural.

Finnish, like English, can put the because-clause at the beginning:

Koska edellinen kuva oli tylsä, päivitän profiilin kuvan.
= Because the previous picture was boring, I’m updating the profile picture.

Notes:

You still use a comma between the clauses.
The meaning is the same; the difference is just emphasis and rhythm.
Starting with koska... slightly emphasizes the reason first.

What’s the difference between edellinen and entinen? Don’t both mean “previous / former”?

Both can translate as “previous / former”, but they’re used differently.

edellinen = the previous one, the one before this, in a sequence or list.
- edellinen kuva – the previous picture (the last one I had)
- edellinen viikko – the previous week / last week
entinen = former, ex-, something that used to be in a role/state but isn’t anymore.
- entinen pomo – former boss / ex-boss
- entinen poikaystävä – ex-boyfriend

In this sentence:

edellinen kuva oli tylsä – the previous picture was boring
→ You’re contrasting your current picture with the one you had before, not talking about a “former” picture in the sense of ex-status. So edellinen is the right choice here.
Entinen kuva would sound odd.

Why is it edellinen kuva oli tylsä and not edellinen kuva oli tylsää?

Here we have an adjective tylsä (boring) describing kuva (picture).

In simple sentences with olla (to be), the adjective that describes a specific, countable noun is usually in the nominative, agreeing with the noun:

Kuva oli tylsä. – The picture was boring.
Elokuva oli hyvä. – The movie was good.

So:

edellinen kuva – nominative
tylsä – nominative, singular, agreeing with kuva

Tylsää (partitive) is possible in other nuances (more about the experience of boredom, gradients, etc.), but in a straightforward statement about the quality of that picture, tylsä is the normal choice.

So edellinen kuva oli tylsä is the default, neutral way to say “the previous picture was boring.”

Could I drop the word kuva in the second clause and just say koska edellinen oli tylsä?

Yes, that’s grammatical and quite natural if the context makes it clear that edellinen refers to the picture.

Päivitän profiilin kuvan, koska edellinen oli tylsä.
= I’m updating the profile picture because the previous one was boring.

In Finnish, if it’s obvious what you’re talking about, you can leave out the repeated noun. Edellinen then works like “the previous one” in English.

Just remember: if it’s not clear from context, include kuva to avoid ambiguity.

How would this sentence look in more colloquial spoken Finnish?

Everyday spoken Finnish often changes pronouns and verb forms a bit. A very typical colloquial version might be:

Mä päivitän mun profiilikuvan, koska edellinen kuva oli tylsä.

Changes:

minä → mä (I)
minun → mun (my)
Using profiilikuvan instead of profiilin kuvan (compound is very common in speech)
Verbs often stay the same in this case: päivitän is fine in both spoken and written language.

Even more relaxed speech might drop some endings or shorten words, but Mä päivitän mun profiilikuvan, koska edellinen kuva oli tylsä is a very natural spoken version.