Jos en arvaa oikein, tarkistan sanan myöhemmin sanakirjasta.

If I do not guess correctly, I check the word later in the dictionary.

Breakdown of Jos en arvaa oikein, tarkistan sanan myöhemmin sanakirjasta.

• minä: I
• myöhemmin: later
• jos: if
• -sta: from
• en: not
• oikein: correctly
• tarkistaa: to check
• sana: the word
• arvata: to guess
• sanakirja: the dictionary

Questions & Answers about Jos en arvaa oikein, tarkistan sanan myöhemmin sanakirjasta.

Why is tarkistan in the present tense when the English translation uses “I will check”?

Finnish normally uses the present tense for both:

• English present: “I check”
• English future: “I will check”

The context (here, a jos “if” clause) makes it clear that tarkistan refers to a future situation.

So:

• Jos en arvaa oikein, tarkistan sanan myöhemmin sanakirjasta.
  = If I don’t guess correctly, I’ll check the word later in the dictionary.

There is no separate “future tense” verb form in Finnish; present covers it.

What is going on with en arvaa? Why is negation a separate word?

Finnish has a special negative verb that carries the person:

• en = I don’t
• et = you (sg) don’t
• ei = he/she/it doesn’t
• emme = we don’t
• ette = you (pl) don’t
• eivät = they don’t

The main verb then appears in a “connegative” form (without personal ending):

• (affirmative) minä arvaan = I guess
• (negative) en arvaa = I don’t guess

So in the sentence:

• en = I do not
• arvaa = guess (connegative form of arvata)

Together: en arvaa = I don’t guess / I don’t guess correctly.

Why is it arvaa oikein and not something like arvaan oikein?

In a negative sentence the personal ending moves onto the negative verb, not the main verb.

• Affirmative: (minä) arvaan oikein. = I guess correctly.
• Negative: (minä) en arvaa oikein. = I don’t guess correctly.

So:

• You must say en arvaa, not en arvaan.

What does oikein mean here, and how is it different from oikeassa?

Both come from oikea (“right, correct”), but:

• oikein = “correctly, in the right way” (adverb)
  
  • arvaa oikein = “guess correctly”
• oikeassa = “(to be) right / correct” (adessive form, used with olla)
  
  • Olet oikeassa. = “You are right.”

In this sentence you need the adverb form, because it describes how you guess:

• en arvaa oikein = I don’t guess correctly.

Why is it jos, and not kun, at the start of the sentence?

Both jos and kun can be translated as “if/when”, but they’re used differently:

• jos = “if” (conditional, uncertain)
  
  • Jos en arvaa oikein… = If I don’t guess correctly… (maybe I will, maybe I won’t)
• kun = “when” (real situation, known or assumed to happen)
  
  • Kun en arvaa oikein… ≈ Whenever I don’t guess correctly… / Since I don’t guess correctly… (suggests it really happens)

Here, the idea is a condition (“if that happens”), so jos is the natural choice.

Why is it sanan and not just sana or sanaa?

Sanan is the object of tarkistan (“I check”), and it appears in the genitive/accusative form because this is a total object (a whole, specific word that gets fully checked).

Object forms with a verb like tarkistaa:

• tarkistan sanan = I (fully) check the word (one complete, specific word)
• tarkistan sanaa = I’m checking a word / some word (ongoing, incomplete, or not specific)

In your sentence you mean “I will check that word / the word” (completely), so sanan is correct.

Sana in nominative would not be used as a normal object here.

Why isn’t there a word like “up” in the Finnish for “look the word up”?

English phrasal verbs like “look up” are typically expressed in Finnish with:

• a single verb +
• a case ending on the noun

Here:

• tarkistan = I check
• sanakirjasta = from the dictionary (elative case)

So tarkistan sanan sanakirjasta literally is:

• “I check the word from the dictionary”
  = “I look the word up in the dictionary”

Finnish doesn’t need a separate “up”; the meaning is captured by the verb tarkistaa and the elative case -sta (“from”) on sanakirja.

What does the ending -sta in sanakirjasta mean exactly?

Sanakirjasta = sanakirja (dictionary) + -sta (elative case, “from (inside)”):

• sanakirja = dictionary
• sanakirjasta = from the dictionary / out of the dictionary

The elative (-sta / -stä) often corresponds to English “from” or “out of”.

With verbs like tarkistaa from a source, sanakirjasta is the standard way to say “in the dictionary” in this context:

• tarkistan sanan sanakirjasta
  = I check / look the word up in the dictionary.

Could I say tarkistan sen sanan instead of tarkistan sanan?

Yes, but the nuance is slightly different:

• tarkistan sanan
  = I check the word (context already tells which word)
• tarkistan sen sanan
  = I check that word (a bit more explicit, maybe contrasting it with others)

In natural speech, if it’s clear which word you’re talking about (e.g. the word you just tried to guess), sanan alone is enough and very normal.

How flexible is the word order in tarkistan sanan myöhemmin sanakirjasta?

Finnish word order is fairly flexible, because endings show the grammatical roles. You can move adverbials (like myöhemmin, sanakirjasta) around for emphasis.

All of these are grammatically possible, with slightly different emphasis:

• Tarkistan sanan myöhemmin sanakirjasta.
  (neutral; focus on “later”)
• Tarkistan sanan sanakirjasta myöhemmin.
  (slight emphasis that it’s specifically “from the dictionary”, and later)
• Myöhemmin tarkistan sanan sanakirjasta.
  (emphasis on “later” at the beginning)

The version in your sentence is the most neutral and common in this context.

What does myöhemmin mean exactly, and why isn’t there a separate preposition like “later on” or “in the future”?

Myöhemmin is an adverb meaning “later”:

• nyt = now
• sitten = then
• myöhemmin = later

Finnish often uses single adverbs instead of combinations like “later on”, “in the future”. So:

• tarkistan sanan myöhemmin
  = “I’ll check the word later” / “I’ll check the word at a later time”

No extra preposition or particle is needed.