Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta.

I lift the pillow up from the floor.

Breakdown of Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta.

• minä: I
• -lta: from
• tyyny: the pillow
• lattia: the floor
• nostaa: to lift
• ylös: up

Questions & Answers about Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta.

Why is there no separate word for “I” in this sentence?

In Finnish, the personal ending on the verb already tells you the subject.

• Nostan = verb stem nosta- (to lift) + -n (1st person singular ending)
  → nostan = I lift / I am lifting

Because the -n ending already marks “I”, adding “minä” is usually unnecessary in neutral sentences.

• Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta. = I lift the pillow up from the floor.
• Minä nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta. – also correct, just more emphatic (I lift it, not someone else).

What is the difference between nostaa and nousta?

They are related but have different grammar roles:

• nostaa = to lift, to raise (transitive: you lift something)
  • Nostan tyynyn. – I lift the pillow.
• nousta = to get up, to rise (intransitive: something/someone rises by itself)
  • Tyyny nousee. – The pillow rises / is rising.

In your sentence, you are actively lifting the pillow, so you must use nostaa → nostan.

Why is it tyynyn and not tyyny or tyynyä?

Tyynyn is the total object form of tyyny (pillow) and here it looks the same as the genitive singular.

• Basic form (nominative): tyyny – “pillow”
• Genitive / total object: tyynyn

You use this form when:

1. The object is countable and complete (you’re affecting the whole thing, not just part of it), and
2. The action is understood as completed / bounded (you fully carry out the lifting).

If you used tyynyä (partitive), it would sound like:

• Nostan tyynyä lattialta. – I am (in the process of) lifting a pillow (not necessarily all the way up / the action is ongoing or unbounded).

So tyynyn fits better for a clear, complete action: you pick the whole pillow up.

Is tyynyn genitive or accusative here? How can I tell?

Formally, it looks like genitive (ending -n), but in this sentence it functions as the accusative object.

In Finnish, the “total object” accusative in the singular often has the same form as the genitive:

• Nostan tyynyn. – tyynyn = total object accusative (looks genitive)
• Tyynyn väri on valkoinen. – tyynyn = actual genitive (the color of the pillow)

How to know which it is?

• If it’s the thing being acted on by the verb, it’s functioning as an object (accusative).
• If it shows possession or relation (of the pillow), it’s genitive.

So in Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta, tyynyn is the object: the thing you are lifting.

Do I really need ylös? Can I just say “Nostan tyynyn lattialta”?

You can say Nostan tyynyn lattialta, and it’s correct and natural. The idea of lifting from the floor already implies moving up.

Adding ylös:

• Makes the upward direction more explicit or more vivid.
• Can sound a bit more colloquial or emphatic depending on context.

Nuance:

• Nostan tyynyn lattialta. – I lift the pillow from the floor. (direction is implied)
• Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta. – I lift the pillow up from the floor. (extra focus on “up”)

So ylös is optional, but not redundant; it just adds clarity/emphasis to the direction.

Where in the sentence can ylös go? Is word order flexible?

Yes, Finnish word order is quite flexible. All of these are possible:

• Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta.
• Nostan tyynyn lattialta ylös.
• Ylös nostan tyynyn lattialta. (more emphatic/poetic)

Neutral, everyday choices would typically be:

• Nostan tyynyn lattialta. (without ylös), or
• Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta.

Moving ylös changes the emphasis slightly, not the core meaning. The safest, most typical version is exactly the one you have.

Why is it lattialta and not something like lattialle or lattialla?

This is about the -lla / -ltä case system used for surfaces and locations.

With lattia (floor):

• lattialla – on the floor (adessive)
• lattialle – onto the floor (allative, movement to the surface)
• lattialta – from the floor (elative, movement off/from the surface)

In your sentence, the pillow is on the floor first, and then you lift it from there, so:

• lattialta (from the floor) is the correct form.

Could you say lattiasta instead of lattialta? What is the difference?

You could say lattiasta, but it would sound odd in this context.

• lattiasta uses the -sta elative (from inside something).
  • It suggests coming from inside the floor, like from within a material or an enclosed space.
• lattialta uses -lta from the surface (from on top of something).

So:

• Nostan tyynyn lattialta. – Normal: I lift the pillow from the surface of the floor.
• Nostan tyynyn lattiasta. – Strange: as if the pillow were inside the floor and you pulled it out.

How do you know whether the sentence means “a pillow” or “the pillow”?

Finnish doesn’t have separate words for “a” and “the” like English does. The basic noun form can mean either, depending on context.

• Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta.
  • Could be “I lift a pillow up from the floor.”
  • Or “I lift the pillow up from the floor.”

If you want to clearly signal “the pillow”, you often use a demonstrative:

• Nostan sen tyynyn ylös lattialta. – I lift that pillow up from the floor.
• Nostan tämän tyynyn ylös lattialta. – I lift this pillow up from the floor.

But in everyday talk, context alone usually makes it clear.

How would this sentence look in the past tense?

You change the verb nostan (present) to nostin (past).

• Present: Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta. – I lift / I am lifting the pillow up from the floor.
• Past: Nostin tyynyn ylös lattialta. – I lifted the pillow up from the floor.

The rest of the sentence (tyynyn ylös lattialta) stays the same.

How would you make this sentence negative?

Finnish uses a special negative verb ei plus the main verb in a shortened form.

Present negative:

• En nosta tyynyä ylös lattialta. – I do not lift a pillow up from the floor / I’m not lifting the pillow up from the floor.

Two things to notice:

1. Verb:
   
   • Nostan → en nosta (I don’t lift)
2. Object case:
   
   • The total object tyynyn often becomes partitive tyynyä in the negative:
     • Nostan tyynyn. – I lift the (whole) pillow.
     • En nosta tyynyä. – I don’t lift the pillow (at all).

You could include lattialta as usual:

• En nosta tyynyä ylös lattialta.

Could I use ottaa instead of nostaa, like “Otan tyynyn ylös lattialta”?

You can, but the nuance changes a bit.

• nostaa = to lift / raise (focus on the upward movement)
  • Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta. – Focus: the lifting motion.
• ottaa = to take, and in contexts like this often means “pick up”
  • Otan tyynyn lattialta. – I pick up the pillow from the floor.

With ottaa, ylös is usually unnecessary:

• Otan tyynyn lattialta. already implies picking it up from the floor.
• Otan tyynyn ylös lattialta. is grammatical, but sounds slightly redundant / less natural.

How would the sentence change if there were several pillows?

There are two main patterns, depending on what you mean.

1. All the pillows (a complete set):

   • Nostan tyynyt ylös lattialta.
     
     • tyynyt = plural total object (all the pillows)
     • Meaning: I lift the pillows up from the floor (all of them).

2. Some pillows, not necessarily all / ongoing action:

   • Nostan tyynyjä ylös lattialta.
     
     • tyynyjä = plural partitive (some pillows, or unbounded quantity)
     • Meaning: I (am) lift(ing) (some) pillows up from the floor.

So singular vs plural:

• Nostan tyynyn ylös lattialta. – one complete pillow.
• Nostan tyynyt ylös lattialta. – all the pillows.
• Nostan tyynyjä ylös lattialta. – some / an unspecified number of pillows.