Breakdown of Minulla on flunssa, joten jään kotiin lepäämään.
Questions & Answers about Minulla on flunssa, joten jään kotiin lepäämään.
Finnish normally does not say “I am X” for illnesses or possessions. Instead it uses a structure that literally means “at me is X”:
- Minulla on flunssa = I have the flu (literally: at me is flu).
The verb olla (to be) in 3rd person (on) plus a case-marked “owner” (minulla) is the standard way to say “I have …”:
- Minulla on auto = I have a car.
- Minulla on flunssa = I have the flu.
Olen flunssa would sound like “I am (a) flu” and is wrong.
You can say Olen flunssassa (literally: I am in flu), which means something like I’m down with the flu, but Olen flunssa is ungrammatical.
Minulla is the adessive case of minä (I).
- minä = I (nominative)
- minulla = on/at me (adessive)
The adessive often means on, at, with and is used for the “owner” in Minulla on … sentences. Literally:
- Minulla on flunssa ≈ On me is flu → I have the flu.
Other persons follow the same pattern:
- Sinulla on flunssa = You have the flu.
- Hänellä on flunssa = He/She has the flu.
- Meillä on flunssa = We have the flu, etc.
Illnesses like flunssa, kuume (fever), päänsärky (headache) usually appear in the nominative in Minulla on … sentences when you’re just stating what you have:
- Minulla on flunssa.
- Minulla on kuume.
- Minulla on päänsärky.
The partitive (flunssaa) would imply an incomplete amount or some “indefinite” quantity of something, and is not normally used for naming a whole illness in this context. You might see partitive with illnesses in different structures (e.g. pelkään flunssaa – I’m afraid of the flu), but with simple “I have X (illness)”, nominative is the default.
In everyday Finnish flunssa is a bit vague. It usually means:
- a mild flu, common cold, or flu-like upper respiratory infection: runny nose, sore throat, mild fever, etc.
So Minulla on flunssa is often just “I have a cold / I’m sick with something like the flu”, not necessarily confirmed influenza.
More specific words:
- nuha = runny nose / head cold (often milder).
- influenssa = actual influenza (medical term, usually more serious).
joten is a conjunction meaning roughly “so / therefore”. It introduces a result or consequence:
- Minulla on flunssa, joten jään kotiin.
= I have the flu, so I’m staying at home.
koska means “because” and introduces the reason:
- Jään kotiin, koska minulla on flunssa.
= I’m staying at home because I have the flu.
siksi is an adverb meaning “for that reason / that’s why”:
- Minulla on flunssa. Siksi jään kotiin.
= I have the flu. That’s why I’m staying at home.
So:
- joten = so, therefore (joins two clauses).
- koska = because (gives the cause).
- siksi = that’s why / for that reason (often starts a new sentence).
jään is:
- verb: jäädä
- tense: present
- person: 1st person singular
- form: jään = I stay / I will stay / I am staying
jäädä means “to stay, remain, be left behind”. Here:
- jään kotiin = I (will) stay at home / I’m staying home.
Finnish present tense covers both English present and near future, so jään can mean I stay or I will stay, depending on context.
Finnish uses different forms for home depending on the idea of movement or location:
- koti = home (basic form).
- kotiin (illative) = to home (movement towards home).
- kotona (inessive) = at home (location at home).
- kotoa (elative) = from home (movement from home).
In jään kotiin, you’re staying (at) home, but Finnish sees this as remaining there / going there and not leaving, so it uses kotiin with jäädä:
- Jään kotiin = I’ll stay (at) home.
- Olen kotona = I am at home (just location, no movement implied).
lepäämään is the 3rd infinitive illative of levätä (to rest). Structure:
- verb: levätä
- stem for 3rd infinitive: lepäämä-
- illative ending: -än (here -mään because of vowel harmony)
→ lepäämään
This -maan / -mään form is used after certain verbs to show purpose or a continuing activity:
- jään kotiin lepäämään
≈ I stay at home to rest / for resting.
lepään = I rest (finite verb, main action).
lepäämään = (in order) to rest (non-finite, expresses purpose with jäädä, mennä, etc.).
Verbs of staying / going / coming / starting, etc., often combine with the 3rd infinitive illative (-maan / -mään) to express “to do something / in order to do something” or “remain doing something”.
Patterns:
- jäädä kotiin lepäämään = stay at home to rest / stay resting at home.
- mennä nukkumaan = go to sleep.
- tulla syömään = come to eat.
- jäädä tänne asumaan = stay here to live (here).
So jään kotiin lepäämään is more literally “I stay home resting”, which in natural English is “I’m staying home to rest.”
You can say either:
- Minulla on flunssa, joten jään kotiin lepäämään.
- Minulla on flunssa, joten minä jään kotiin lepäämään.
In Finnish, personal pronouns (minä, sinä, hän, …) are usually omitted because the verb ending (-n, -t, etc.) already shows the person.
You add minä for emphasis or contrast, for example:
- Minulla on flunssa, joten minä jään kotiin (mutta sinä voit mennä töihin).
= I have the flu, so I am staying home (but you can go to work).
Yes. Finnish word order is fairly flexible, especially with conjunctions.
All of these are grammatically fine, with slightly different emphasis:
- Minulla on flunssa, joten jään kotiin lepäämään.
- Koska minulla on flunssa, jään kotiin lepäämään.
- Jään kotiin lepäämään, koska minulla on flunssa.
joten tends to sit between two clauses, while koska can start the sentence or appear in the middle. Changing order usually changes which part you’re highlighting, but the basic meaning stays: you’re sick and you stay home.
In everyday speech, people often shorten pronouns and some endings:
- Minulla on flunssa, joten jään kotiin lepäämään. (standard)
→ Mulla on flunssa, joten jään kotiin lepäämään. (common spoken)
→ Even shorter: Mulla on flunssa, niin jään kotiin lepäämään.
minulla → mulla is very typical in speech.
Using niin instead of joten is also common in casual language.
The grammar (cases, endings) stays basically the same; pronunciation and some words become more relaxed.