Minä laitan puhelimen pois.

I put the phone away.

Breakdown of Minä laitan puhelimen pois.

• minä: I
• puhelin: the phone
• laittaa pois: to put away

Questions & Answers about Minä laitan puhelimen pois.

Do I have to say Minä, or can I just say Laitan puhelimen pois?

You can absolutely drop Minä and just say Laitan puhelimen pois.

In Finnish, the verb ending -n in laitan already shows that the subject is I (1st person singular). So:

• Minä laitan puhelimen pois. = I put the phone away. (neutral, slightly emphasizing I)
• Laitan puhelimen pois. = I put the phone away. (most typical in everyday speech)

You usually include Minä only:

• for emphasis (Minä laitan puhelimen pois, en sinä – I will put the phone away, not you),
• or when you want to be very clear, e.g. in beginner-level texts or careful speech.

What does the verb laitan come from, and what does it literally mean?

Laitan is the 1st person singular form of the verb laittaa.

Basic pattern:

• infinitive: laittaa (to put, to place, to set, sometimes to prepare)
• minä laitan = I put
• sinä laitat = you put
• hän laittaa = he/she puts

In this sentence, laittaa … pois together means to put something away. Depending on context, laittaa can mean:

• to put/place: Laitan kirjan pöydälle. – I put the book on the table.
• to prepare food: Laitan ruokaa. – I’m making food.
• to turn something on/off when combined with particles: laittaa päälle/pois.

Why is it puhelimen and not puhelin?

Puhelimen is the object of the verb laitan, and it is in the accusative / genitive-like form. The basic (dictionary) form is puhelin (phone), but as a total object in a positive sentence, it takes -n:

• puhelin (nominative, basic form)
• puhelimen (total object form here)

You use this -n form when:

• the object is countable and whole, and
• the action affects the whole thing and is seen as complete.

So Minä laitan puhelimen pois = I will completely put the phone away (not just partly, not just starting to put it away).

Could it be puhelinta instead of puhelimen? What would be the difference?

Yes, puhelinta is possible, but it changes the meaning.

• puhelimen = total object (whole phone; complete action)
• puhelinta = partitive object (incomplete/ongoing/partial action or different type of context)

Compare:

• Laitan puhelimen pois.
  I’m putting the phone away (and this action is understood as completed).

• Laitan puhelinta pois.
  This sounds like you are in the middle of the process of putting the phone away (perhaps describing the action as ongoing, or in some contexts sounds odd/unnatural).

Much more important: in negative sentences, Finnish normally uses the partitive:

• En laita puhelinta pois. – I am not putting the phone away.

So in positive neutral statements: puhelimen.
In negative or certain “incomplete” situations: puhelinta.

What exactly is pois? Is it a verb, a preposition, or something else?

Pois is an adverb/particle meaning roughly away, off, out (from here/there).

It does not inflect like a verb and does not take cases like nouns do. It often combines with verbs to express movement away from a place or off a device or surface:

• Mennään pois. – Let’s go away.
• Heittän sen pois. – I throw it away.
• Ota takki pois. – Take your coat off.
• Laita puhelin pois. – Put the phone away.

So in Minä laitan puhelimen pois, pois strengthens the idea that the phone is being put away / out of use.

Can I say Minä laitan pois puhelimen, or does pois have to come after puhelimen?

You can say Minä laitan pois puhelimen, and people will understand you, but the most natural word order here is:

• Minä laitan puhelimen pois.

In Finnish, the typical (neutral) pattern is: Subject – Verb – Object – Adverb/Particle

So:

• Minä laitan puhelimen pois. (most neutral)
• Minä laitan puhelimen heti pois.
• Minä laitan sen pois.

Placing pois earlier can sound marked or give it special emphasis, and sometimes it sounds a bit foreign or poetic. For normal everyday speech, stick to puhelimen pois.

Does Minä laitan puhelimen pois mean “I turn off my phone” or “I put my phone away”?

By default, Minä laitan puhelimen pois is understood as I put the phone away (e.g., into a pocket, bag, drawer, on the table but not using it anymore).

If you specifically mean turning the phone off (powering down), you would typically say:

• Minä sammutan puhelimen. – I turn off the phone.
• Minä laitan puhelimen pois päältä. – I switch the phone off (literally: put the phone off from on-top).

However, in some casual contexts, laittaa puhelin pois can be understood more loosely as “put the phone away / stop using it,” which may include turning it off, but it’s not precise about that.

Why is the verb in the present tense (laitan) even if I might mean “I will put the phone away (soon)”?

Finnish present tense covers both:

• present actions: happening now
• near future: happening soon

So Minä laitan puhelimen pois can mean:

• I’m putting the phone away (right now).
• I’ll put the phone away (in a moment, as a decision or plan).

There is a separate future tense only in meaning, not in verb form. Context and sometimes adverbs (like kohta, huomenna) tell you if it’s about the future:

• Laitan puhelimen kohta pois. – I’ll put the phone away soon.
• Huomenna laitan puhelimen pois koko päiväksi. – Tomorrow I’ll put the phone away for the whole day.

Why is Minä not written with a capital letter in the middle of a sentence, like English I?

In Finnish, personal pronouns are not capitalized in the middle of a sentence. Only the first word of the sentence and proper nouns get capital letters.

So you write:

• Minä laitan puhelimen pois.
• Sinä laitat puhelimen pois.
• Hän laittaa puhelimen pois.

never minä → I with capital just because it means “I”.
The capital M here is only because it’s the first word of the sentence.

How is laitan conjugated? What are the other forms like you put, he/she puts, etc.?

The verb is laittaa. In the present tense:

• minä laitan – I put
• sinä laitat – you (sing.) put
• hän/se laittaa – he/she/it puts
• me laitamme (spoken: me laitetaan) – we put
• te laitatte – you (pl.) put
• he/ne laittavat (spoken: laittaa) – they put

So you can make similar sentences:

• Sinä laitat puhelimen pois. – You put the phone away.
• Hän laittaa puhelimen pois. – He/She puts the phone away.

Can I use panna instead of laittaa, as in Minä panen puhelimen pois? Is there any difference?

Yes, grammatically you can say:

• Minä panen puhelimen pois.

Panna and laittaa both mean roughly to put/place, but there are nuances:

• Laittaa is the more neutral and more common modern choice in many contexts.
• Panna can sound more colloquial, or more physical: “to put, to shove, to stick something somewhere,” and it also has some slang/sexual meanings in speech.

In a neutral learner’s sentence, Minä laitan puhelimen pois is the safer and more typical choice. You will, however, often hear panna in colloquial speech.

How does the sentence change in the negative? How do I say “I’m not putting the phone away”?

In the negative, the verb and the object form both change:

• En laita puhelinta pois. – I am not putting the phone away.

Changes:

1. Verb: Finnish uses the negative verb en

   • the main verb in a special form (here laita).
   • Minä laitan → En laita

2. Object: the object usually goes to the partitive in negative sentences:

   • puhelimen → puhelinta

So:

• Positive: Minä laitan puhelimen pois.
• Negative: En laita puhelinta pois.

Is the word order in this sentence fixed, or can I move the words around for emphasis?

The neutral, basic order is:

• Minä laitan puhelimen pois.
  Subject – Verb – Object – Adverb/Particle.

Finnish has fairly flexible word order, and you can move elements for emphasis or to highlight what is new or important information:

• Puhelimen minä laitan pois. – The phone is what I’ll put away (maybe not something else).
• Pois minä laitan puhelimen. – Emphasizes away, sounds a bit dramatic/poetic.

However, for everyday standard speech, the original Minä laitan puhelimen pois (or without Minä) is the most natural. As a learner, it’s best to stick to this word order unless you have a specific reason to emphasize something.