Liikunta parantaa terveyttä.

Exercise improves health.

Breakdown of Liikunta parantaa terveyttä.

• liikunta: the exercise
• parantaa: to improve
• terveys: the health

Questions & Answers about Liikunta parantaa terveyttä.

What does each word in Liikunta parantaa terveyttä correspond to in English?

Word by word:

• liikunta – physical exercise, physical activity
• parantaa – improves, makes better, cures
• terveyttä – health (in the partitive case)

Grammatically, the structure is:

• Liikunta – subject (nominative singular)
• parantaa – verb (3rd person singular, present indicative)
• terveyttä – object (partitive singular)

So the whole sentence means: “Exercise improves health.”

Why is terveyttä in the partitive case instead of nominative terveys or something like terveyden?

The partitive object terveyttä is used because the sentence talks about health in a general, ongoing, and non-complete way.

In Finnish, the object is in the partitive in situations like:

1. Indefinite or unbounded amount

   • Join vettä. – I drank (some) water.
     Here vettä is “water” in general, not a specific amount.

2. Process / not completed result

   • Rakennan taloa. – I am building a house. (It’s in progress.)

In Liikunta parantaa terveyttä, we are not saying that exercise “completely fixes” health once and for all. We are describing a general positive effect on health as a quality. That is a classic reason to use a partitive object.

If you tried Liikunta parantaa terveyden, it would sound odd or too absolute, as if exercise “completely cures the health”, which is not how Finns normally phrase this general truth.

What exactly is the ending -ttä in terveyttä, and how is it formed from terveys?

The ending -ttä here is the partitive singular ending.

For many nouns with front vowels (y, ä, ö), the partitive singular is -ä / -tä. With terveys:

• Base form (nominative): terveys – health
• Partitive singular: terveyttä – (some) health / health (in general)

You can think of it simply as:

• terveys → terveyttä (remove -s, add -ttä)

Some other forms of terveys for comparison:

• Genitive singular: terveyden – of health
• Inessive: terveydessä – in (the) health
• Nominative plural: terveydet

There is some stem alternation (terveys / terveyttä / terveyden), but for practical purposes at this level, it’s enough to memorise terveys – terveyttä – terveyden as a set.

What tense and person is parantaa, and what is the basic dictionary form of this verb?

In the sentence Liikunta parantaa terveyttä:

• parantaa is 3rd person singular, present indicative, active.

In English terms, it corresponds to both:

• “improves” and
• “is improving”

because Finnish does not have a separate continuous tense.

The dictionary (infinitive) form is also parantaa – “to improve, to cure, to make better”.

Some key forms:

• minä parannan – I improve / I am improving
• sinä parannat – you improve
• hän parantaa – he/she/it improves
• me parannamme – we improve
• te parannatte – you (pl.) improve
• he parantavat – they improve

Past tense (simple):

• hän paransi – he/she improved

So in our sentence, parantaa agrees with the singular subject liikunta:
Liikunta parantaa… – Exercise improves…

Could I use terveyden instead of terveyttä? Would Liikunta parantaa terveyden be correct?

Grammatically, terveyden is a possible object form of terveys, but in this exact sentence it sounds unnatural to native speakers.

Rough guideline:

• Partitive object (terveyttä) – improvement in general or partly, ongoing or habitual effect.

  • Liikunta parantaa terveyttä.
    Exercise improves health. (general truth, typical sentence)

• Total object (terveyden) – health is seen as a whole, with a complete result.
  You might see this more naturally with a specific person and context:

  • Lääkäri paransi potilaan terveyden.
    The doctor restored the patient’s health (completely).

With liikunta, you are talking about a general beneficial influence, not a one‑time, complete cure. That’s why Liikunta parantaa terveyttä is the idiomatic choice, and Liikunta parantaa terveyden would usually be avoided.

Is the word order fixed? Can I say Terveyttä parantaa liikunta?

Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and it is used to express emphasis and information structure (what is new / important in the sentence).

Neutral, textbook word order is:

• Liikunta parantaa terveyttä.
  (Subject – Verb – Object)

You can say:

• Terveyttä parantaa liikunta.

This is grammatically correct but has a different emphasis. It often answers the question:

• Mikä parantaa terveyttä? – What improves health?
  → Terveyttä parantaa liikunta. – It’s exercise that improves health.

Some other possibilities:

• Liikunta terveyttä parantaa.
  – Possible, but sounds poetic / very emphatic.

In everyday speech, the original Liikunta parantaa terveyttä is the most neutral and common form.

Why is there no article like “the” or “a” in the sentence?

Finnish simply does not have articles (no equivalents of English a/an or the).

Definiteness and indefiniteness are expressed by:

• Context
• Word order
• Sometimes words like se (that/it), eräs (a certain), tietty (a certain), etc.

So Liikunta parantaa terveyttä can correspond to:

• Exercise improves health.
• Physical exercise improves (your) health.

English must choose an article; Finnish does not. The idea “in general” is conveyed just by the bare nouns liikunta and terveyttä and the context.

What exactly does liikunta mean, and how is it different from urheilu or harjoitus?

Liikunta is a mass noun meaning “physical activity / exercise” in a general sense.

Typical uses:

• Harrastan liikuntaa. – I do exercise / I’m physically active.
• Liikunta on tärkeää. – Exercise is important.
• Liikuntatunti – P.E. class (in school)

Differences:

• liikunta – general physical activity for health or wellbeing; does not necessarily imply competition.
• urheilu – sport, often organised or competitive (football, ice hockey, etc.).
• harjoitus – a (single) exercise / practice / drill; also used for “homework exercise” in books.

So in Liikunta parantaa terveyttä, the point is that physical activity in general improves health, not just organised sports or specific exercises.

Are there other common Finnish ways to say that exercise is good for your health?

Yes, several natural alternatives express a very similar idea, for example:

1. Liikunta on hyväksi terveydelle.
   – Exercise is good for (the) health.

   • hyväksi = “for good / beneficial to”
   • terveydelle = “for health” (allative case)

2. Liikunta edistää terveyttä.
   – Exercise promotes health.

3. Liikunta tekee hyvää terveydelle.
   – Exercise does good for your health.

4. Liikunta on terveellistä.
   – Exercise is healthy.

All of these convey more or less the same message as Liikunta parantaa terveyttä, with slightly different nuances (e.g. “is good for” vs “improves” vs “promotes”).

How would I say the same idea in the past or in the (English) future sense?

Finnish uses different verb tenses but no separate future tense. The present tense often covers future meaning when combined with context or time expressions.

1. Past tense

• Liikunta paransi terveyttä.
  – Exercise improved health. (general statement about the past)

To make it personal:

• Liikunta paransi terveyttäni.
  – Exercise improved my health.
  (terveyttäni = my health, partitive + possessive suffix)

2. Future meaning

Finnish normally uses the present tense + context:

• Säännöllinen liikunta parantaa terveyttäsi.
  – Regular exercise will improve your health.
  (Literally: “improves your health.”)

• Jos liikut enemmän, se parantaa terveyttäsi.
  – If you exercise more, it will improve your health.

So:

• present: Liikunta parantaa terveyttä. – Exercise improves health.
• past: Liikunta paransi terveyttä. – Exercise improved health.
• future idea: still parantaa, but with words like jos (if), tulevaisuudessa (in the future), jatkossa (from now on), etc.