Minä pelkään ukkosta.

I am afraid of the thunderstorm.

Breakdown of Minä pelkään ukkosta.

• minä: I
• pelätä: to be afraid
• ukkonen: the thunderstorm

Questions & Answers about Minä pelkään ukkosta.

What does Minä pelkään ukkosta literally mean word by word?

Word by word:

• Minä = I
• pelkään = (I) fear / am afraid of
  
  • This is the 1st person singular form of the verb pelätä (to fear, to be afraid of).
• ukkosta = thunder (in the partitive case; “(some) thunder, thunder in general”)

So literally: “I fear thunder.”
Natural English: “I’m afraid of thunder.”

Do I have to say Minä, or can I just say Pelkään ukkosta?

You can drop Minä. The verb ending -n in pelkään already shows the subject is I.

• Minä pelkään ukkosta.
• Pelkään ukkosta.

Both mean “I’m afraid of thunder.”

Using Minä is often:

• a bit more emphatic: “I am the one who’s afraid of thunder.”
• more common in very clear, slow, beginner-friendly speech or when stressing the subject.

In normal conversation, Finns frequently leave out subject pronouns.

Why is it pelkään and not pelätä?

Pelätä is the dictionary (infinitive) form: “to fear / to be afraid of.”

Finnish verbs change their ending to show person and number. For pelätä:

• minä pelkään = I fear / I’m afraid
• sinä pelkäät = you (sg) fear / you’re afraid
• hän pelkää = he/she fears / is afraid

So pelkään is the 1st person singular form of pelätä.

You use pelkään when saying “I am afraid (of something).”

Why is it ukkosta and not just ukkonen?

Ukkonen is the basic form (nominative) meaning “thunder” (or a thunderstorm depending on context).

In the sentence Minä pelkään ukkosta, the word ukkosta is in the partitive case. Many verbs in Finnish require their object in the partitive, and pelätä is one of them.

So you say:

• pelkään ukkosta = I am afraid of thunder (thunder in general)
  not
• ✗ pelkään ukkonen

The correct pattern is:

• pelätä + partitive → pelkään mitä? → ukkosta (partitive of ukkonen)

What is the partitive case, and why does pelätä use it?

The partitive case (here: ukkosta) often expresses:

• something indefinite / uncountable
• something incomplete / not limited
• “some” amount of something, or something in general

With pelätä, the thing you’re afraid of is seen as a sort of indefinite “mass” or general concept, not a single, countable item. That’s why it takes the partitive:

• pelkään pimeää = I’m afraid of the dark
• pelkään vettä = I’m afraid of water
• pelkään ukkosta = I’m afraid of thunder

So: pelätä + partitive is just how the verb’s grammar works.

How does ukkonen → ukkosta work? Why that change?

Ukkonen is the nominative (dictionary form). To form the partitive singular, you often add -a/-ä or -ta/-tä depending on the word type and vowel harmony.

For ukkonen:

• Stem: ukkose-
• Partitive singular: ukkosta

This is one of the regular ways that -nen nouns behave. Some patterns:

• nainen (woman) → naista (partitive)
• suomalainen (Finnish person) → suomalaista (partitive)
• ukkonen (thunder) → ukkosta (partitive)

Does ukkonen / ukkosta mean “thunder” or “thunderstorm”?

Context decides:

• ukkonen / ukkosta most literally refers to thunder (the sound), but in everyday speech it can also refer to a thunderstorm in general.

More specific words:

• ukkosmyrsky = a thunderstorm (explicitly the storm)
• salama = lightning (the flash)

So Minä pelkään ukkosta is usually understood as “I’m afraid of thunderstorms / thunder” as a phenomenon.

Is there another way to say “I’m afraid” in Finnish, like I am scared?

Yes, there are several options, with slightly different nuances:

• Minä pelkään ukkosta.

  • Neutral, very common. “I am afraid of thunder.”

• Minä olen peloissani ukkosen takia.

  • Literally: “I am in my fear because of the thunder.”
  • More like “I’m really scared because of the thunder.” Emotional / state-focused.

• Minua pelottaa ukkonen.

  • Literally: “Thunder scares me.”
  • More like “I feel scared of thunder.” A bit more impersonal construction.

But for a simple “I’m afraid of thunder,” Minä pelkään ukkosta (or just Pelkään ukkosta) is perfect.

Can I change the word order, like Ukkosta pelkään minä?

Yes. Finnish word order is flexible, and changes mostly affect emphasis, not basic meaning. All of these are grammatically correct:

• Minä pelkään ukkosta. (neutral: I am afraid of thunder)
• Pelkään ukkosta. (neutral, subject understood)
• Ukkosta pelkään. (emphasis on ukkosta: It’s thunder that I fear)
• Ukkosta minä pelkään. (strong emphasis: Thunder, that’s what I’m afraid of)

The basic message stays the same: you’re afraid of thunder.

How do I say I’m not afraid of thunder?

Negation in Finnish uses a special negative verb plus the consonant stem of the main verb.

• Affirmative: Minä pelkään ukkosta.
• Negative: Minä en pelkää ukkosta.

You can also drop Minä:

• En pelkää ukkosta. = I’m not afraid of thunder.

Note how pelkään becomes pelkää in the negative form. The personal ending moves to the negative verb (en, “I don’t”).

How would I say I’m afraid of lightning, not thunder?

Use salama (lightning) in the partitive: salamaa.

• Minä pelkään salamaa, en ukkosta.
  
  • salamaa = lightning (partitive)
  • en = (I) don’t
  • ukkosta = thunder (partitive)

You can also shorten:

• Pelkään salamaa, en ukkosta. = I’m afraid of lightning, not thunder.

How would people say this more colloquially in spoken Finnish?

In casual spoken Finnish, minä usually becomes mä, and some endings may sound a bit different, though writing them in spoken form is optional. A common spoken version:

• Mä pelkään ukkosta.

You might also hear just:

• Pelkään ukkosta.

Both are perfectly natural.

How is pelkään pronounced, especially the ä and lk?

Pronunciation tips:

• ä = like “a” in “cat” or “bad” (but keep it short and clear).
• pel-: p as in spin, e like bed, l like look.
• kään:
  
  • k like in sky
  • ää is a long ä sound: hold it a bit longer (like baaad but with the ä sound)
  • n as in no

So pelkään is roughly “pel-käään”, with the stress on the first syllable: PEL-kään.

Ukkosta:

• kk = a long k; you kind of hold the consonant: uk-kos-ta.
• Stress on the first syllable: UK-kos-ta.