Sinä teet sen itse.

You do it yourself.

Breakdown of Sinä teet sen itse.

• sinä: you
• se: it
• tehdä: to do
• itse: yourself

Questions & Answers about Sinä teet sen itse.

Why do we need sinä when teet already means “you do”?

The verb ending in Finnish already shows the person:

• teen = I do
• teet = you (singular) do
• tekee = he/she does

So sinä is not grammatically necessary. It is added mainly for emphasis or clarity.

Sinä teet sen itse emphasizes you in contrast to someone else, roughly like “YOU will do it yourself (not me / not someone else).”

Without sinä, Teet sen itse is more neutral: “(You) do it yourself,” where the subject is understood from context but not specially emphasized.

Can I leave out sinä and just say Teet sen itse?

Yes. That is perfectly correct and very natural.

• Sinä teet sen itse. – more emphatic: it’s specifically you.
• Teet sen itse. – same basic meaning, but without the extra emphasis on “you”.

In everyday speech, the subject pronoun is often omitted when it’s clear from context.

What tense is teet? Does it mean present or future?

Teet is the present tense of tehdä (“to do / to make”). Finnish normally uses the present tense for both present and future time:

• Sinä teet sen itse.
  – You do it yourself.
  – You will do it yourself.

The actual time (now / later) is understood from context, or you add a time adverb:

• Sinä teet sen itse huomenna. – You will do it yourself tomorrow.
• Sinä teet sen itse nyt. – You are doing it yourself now.

How is teet related to the infinitive tehdä?

Tehdä is the basic dictionary form (the infinitive: “to do / to make”).
Teet is its 2nd person singular present indicative form.

The full present-tense paradigm is:

• minä teen – I do
• sinä teet – you do
• hän tekee – he/she does
• me teemme – we do
• te teette – you (plural) do
• he tekevät – they do

So teet is just the regular “you (singular) do / will do” form of tehdä.

What exactly is sen here, and why not se or sitä?

Se is a pronoun meaning “it / that”. Finnish changes its form depending on grammatical role:

• se – nominative (subject form)
• sen – genitive/accusative (often used as a total object: “it / that”)
• sitä – partitive (used for partial objects, ongoing/incomplete actions, or after negation)

In Sinä teet sen itse, sen is a total object (“the whole thing / that particular thing”), which is why it’s in the sen form.

Compare:

• Näetkö sen? – Do you see it / that?
• Et näe sitä. – You don’t see it. (negative → sitä)

What does itse mean here, and how is it different from English “yourself”?

Itse is an intensifying pronoun meaning “self, oneself”. With sinä, it corresponds to “yourself”:

• Sinä teet sen itse. – You do it yourself.

Grammatically, itse does not change for person in this simple construction:

• Minä teen sen itse. – I do it myself.
• Sinä teet sen itse. – You do it yourself.
• Hän tekee sen itse. – He/She does it himself/herself.

There are also possessive forms like itseni, itsesi, itsensä, but in sentences like this, plain itse after the object is the usual way to express “(do it) yourself / himself / themselves”.

Can itse go somewhere else in the sentence, and does that change the meaning?

Yes, Finnish word order is flexible, and moving itse changes emphasis:

• Sinä teet sen itse. – neutral emphasis on “you” and “yourself”.
• Sinä itse teet sen. – stronger focus on you yourself (not someone representing you).
• Itse teet sen. – emphasizes itse (“you yourself will do it”).
• Sen teet sinä itse. – strongly contrasts who does it: “That one, you yourself will do.”

The basic meaning stays similar (you personally do it), but word order lets you highlight different parts of the sentence.

What is the difference between Sinä teet sen itse. and the command Tee se itse!?

• Sinä teet sen itse. – statement in the present tense. Depending on context and tone, it can be:

  • a simple statement: “You’re the one who does it yourself.”
  • a prediction or decision: “You will do it yourself.”

• Tee se itse! – imperative: a direct command “Do it yourself!”

So teet = “you do / you will do” (statement),
tee = “do!” (command).

Does tehdä mean “to do” or “to make”? Which one is implied here?

Tehdä covers both English verbs “to do” and “to make”, depending on context:

• tehdä läksyt – to do homework
• tehdä ruokaa – to make food / to cook
• tehdä virheen – to make a mistake

In Sinä teet sen itse, it could mean “do it yourself” or “make it yourself”, depending on what sen refers to (a task vs. a physical object). The Finnish sentence itself doesn’t distinguish; context decides.

Is this how people actually say it in everyday spoken Finnish?

Yes, but in casual speech it often changes slightly:

• Sä teet sen ite. – very common spoken form
  
  • sinä → sä (colloquial)
  • itse → ite (colloquial)

People might also drop sen if it is obvious:

• Sä teet ite. – You’ll do (it) yourself.

The written standard is Sinä teet sen itse, but you’ll frequently hear the colloquial variants in speech.

Can sen be omitted if “it” is clear from context?

Yes, it can:

• Sinä teet sen itse. – You do it yourself.
• Sinä teet itse. – You (will) do (it) yourself.

In the second sentence, sen is understood from the situation or prior conversation. Omitting sen makes the sentence slightly more general and less specific about “that particular thing”, but it is very natural in context.

Why are there no words for “a” or “the” in Sinä teet sen itse?

Finnish has no articles like “a / an / the”. Definiteness is expressed through context, word choice, and pronouns.

• Sinä teet sen itse. – usually implies “You will do that (specific) thing yourself.”

The pronoun sen already suggests a particular, known thing (“that / it”), so no extra article is needed.