Tulkaa sisään, vanhemmat odottavat jo keittiössä.

Come in, the parents are already waiting in the kitchen.

Breakdown of Tulkaa sisään, vanhemmat odottavat jo keittiössä.

• -ssa: in
• keittiö: the kitchen
• odottaa: to wait
• jo: already
• vanhempi: the parent
• tulla sisään: to come in

Questions & Answers about Tulkaa sisään, vanhemmat odottavat jo keittiössä.

Why is it Tulkaa and not Tule at the beginning?

Tulkaa is the 2nd person plural imperative of tulla (to come).

• Tule! = Come! (to one person, informal/singular)
• Tulkaa! = Come! (to more than one person; or in some cases to one person politely – see next question)

So Tulkaa sisään means you are addressing several people (or using plural for politeness) and telling them to come in.

Does Tulkaa mean I’m speaking to several people, or can it be polite to one person?

Both are possible; context decides.

1. Several people
   Most commonly, Tulkaa sisään is used when you’re talking to more than one person, like a couple or a group.

2. Polite form to one person (teitittely)
   Finnish has a polite form where you address one person with te (you-plural) and use plural verb forms. In that style, you would also say Tulkaa sisään to one person, as a polite invitation.

In everyday modern Finnish, the plural imperative is mostly just understood as “you (plural)” unless the context clearly shows a formal address.

What exactly does sisään do here? Could I just say Tulkaa?

Sisään literally means “in(wards), inside” and specifies the direction of movement: you are telling them to come in (through the door / into the room).

• Tulkaa! = Just “Come!” (no direction specified; could be come here, come over, etc.)
• Tulkaa sisään! = “Come in!” (enter the room/house)

You normally keep sisään in this kind of invitation. It’s a very common fixed expression: Tulkaa sisään!

What’s the difference between sisään and sisälle here?

Both can be used for movement into an interior, but:

• sisään focuses on crossing the boundary (through the door, from outside to inside).
• sisälle can feel a bit more like into the interior space, slightly more spatial or physical.

In everyday speech, Tulkaa sisään is the default for “Come in (through the door).”
Tulkaa sisälle is also correct, but sounds a bit more physical and is less formulaic as an “invitation” phrase.

Why is there no word for “the” before vanhemmat even though the English translation has “the parents”?

Finnish has no articles (no the/a/an). Nouns like vanhemmat can be definite or indefinite depending only on context.

Vanhemmat odottavat jo keittiössä is understood in context as:

• “The parents are already waiting in the kitchen.”

It could, in a different context, mean just “parents are already waiting in the kitchen,” but typically, in a realistic situation (e.g. talking about someone’s parents), listeners understand it as “the parents” without any extra word.

Does vanhemmat always mean “parents”? It looks like it might mean “older ones”.

The base word vanhempi is the comparative of vanha (old → older), but it has also become a noun meaning “parent”.

• vanhempi (adj.) = older
• vanhempi (noun) = a parent
• vanhemmat (plural noun) = parents

So in this sentence, vanhemmat clearly means “the parents”.

It can mean “the older ones” in some contexts, but when you see vanhemmat on its own like this, it is usually understood as “parents,” especially in everyday contexts (meeting someone’s parents, family situations, etc.).

Why is the verb odottavat in the plural form?

In standard Finnish, the verb agrees in number with the subject:

• vanhempi odottaa = the parent waits / is waiting
• vanhemmat odottavat = the parents wait / are waiting

Here the subject vanhemmat is plural, so the 3rd person plural form odottavat is used.

Note: in colloquial spoken Finnish, people often say vanhemmat odottaa, dropping the -vat, but in correct written Finnish you keep odottavat.

Where does jo (“already”) usually go, and could it move in this sentence?

Jo is usually placed before the verb or near it:

• Vanhemmat odottavat jo keittiössä.
  = The parents are already waiting in the kitchen.

Other possible orders:

• Vanhemmat jo odottavat keittiössä.
  Slightly more emphatic on already waiting.

If you put jo in odd places, it can sound unnatural or put unusual emphasis. The version in the sentence is the most neutral and common: odottavat jo.

Why is it keittiössä and not keittiöön or something else?

Keittiössä is the inessive case of keittiö (kitchen), meaning “in the kitchen”.

• keittiö = kitchen (basic form)
• keittiöön (illative) = into the kitchen (movement into)
• keittiössä (inessive) = in the kitchen (being inside)
• keittiöstä (elative) = from the kitchen (movement out of)

In this sentence, the parents are already located in the kitchen, not moving there, so inessive -ssä (keittiössä) is the correct form.

Why is there a comma after sisään?

Finnish uses a comma to separate two independent clauses, even when there is no conjunction like “and” between them.

• Tulkaa sisään = one clause (imperative, addressing “you”)
• vanhemmat odottavat jo keittiössä = second clause (statement about “the parents”)

So Tulkaa sisään, vanhemmat odottavat jo keittiössä. is like saying:

• Come in, the parents are already waiting in the kitchen.

The comma marks the boundary between the two clauses.

Could I say Tulkaa sisään, odotamme jo keittiössä instead? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, that is also correct, but it changes the subject and nuance:

• Tulkaa sisään, vanhemmat odottavat jo keittiössä.
  = Come in, the parents are already waiting in the kitchen.
  (You’re describing the parents as a third party.)

• Tulkaa sisään, odotamme jo keittiössä.
  = Come in, we are already waiting in the kitchen.
  (Now the speaker is part of the group waiting.)

Grammatically both are fine; you choose based on who is actually waiting and what you want to emphasize.