Learn Hardcore Finnish: Talvella ilman hanskoja kädet paleltuvat nopeasti. - In winter, without gloves, hands get cold quickly.

talvella – in (the) winter (adessive case of talvi, “winter”)
ilman – without
hanskoja – gloves (partitive plural of hanska, “glove”)
kädet – hands (nominative plural of käsi, “hand”)
paleltuvat – get frostbitten / freeze / become very cold (3rd person plural of paleltua)
nopeasti – quickly (adverb from nopea, “fast, quick”)

Altogether: In winter, without gloves, (your) hands get frostbitten quickly.

Why is it talvella and not just talvi or something like talvessa?

Talvella is in the adessive case (-lla/-llä), which is often used for times like seasons and parts of the day:

talvella – in winter / during winter
kesällä – in summer
yöllä – at night

So talvella here means “in winter (generally)”.

Other forms:

talvi – basic dictionary form (“winter”)
talvessa – inessive (“inside the winter”), rarely used and sounds strange in this meaning
talvena – essive (“as a winter”), used in different kinds of expressions

For “in winter” in this kind of sentence, talvella is the normal choice.

Why is hanskoja in that form and not hanskat?

Hanskat is nominative plural: gloves (a whole, definite set).
Hanskoja is partitive plural, and it’s there because ilman (“without”) always requires the partitive case.

So:

ilman hanskoja – without (any) gloves
You cannot say ilman hanskat; that’s ungrammatical.

The partitive here gives the idea of “no gloves at all / no gloves on”, not referring to a specific pair as a complete object.

Whose hands are kädet? Why isn’t it sinun kätesi or käteni?

In Finnish, the possessor (my/your/etc.) is often left out when it’s obvious from context. In this kind of general statement about what happens to people, kädet is understood as “one’s hands / your hands / people’s hands”.

You could say:

Sinun kätesi paleltuvat nopeasti. – Your hands get frostbitten quickly.
Käteni paleltuvat nopeasti. – My hands get frostbitten quickly.

But the neutral, general way to say it is just:

Kädet paleltuvat nopeasti. – Hands get frostbitten quickly (i.e. your hands do, people’s hands do).

So the sentence is intentionally generic.

Why is kädet plural? Could you use singular, like käsi paleltuu nopeasti?

You could say käsi paleltuu nopeasti, but it would normally mean one hand in particular gets cold quickly, which is odd in this context.

Talking about warmth, Finns almost always think of both hands:

Kädet paleltuvat helposti. – Hands (both of them) get cold easily.

So the plural kädet is natural and expected here.

Why is it kädet (nominative) and not käsiä (partitive), even though the action is ongoing?

Here, kädet is the subject of an intransitive verb (paleltua), so it normally appears in the nominative:

Kädet paleltuvat. – The hands are getting frostbitten.

The partitive plural käsiä can be used as a kind of “indefinite subject”, but then the meaning shifts:

Käsiä paleltuu helposti. – Literally “Hands (some hands) get frostbitten easily”; more like “There are (some) hands getting frostbitten easily.”

In this sentence we are talking about a definite, whole set (“the hands”), so kädet in nominative plural is the most straightforward and natural form.

What exactly does paleltuvat mean, and how is it different from palella or paleltaa?

These three are related but different:

paleltua – to become frostbitten / to freeze (too much)
- kädet paleltuvat – the hands get frostbitten / are damaged by cold
palella – to feel very cold, to freeze (as a person)
- Palelen. – I’m freezing / I’m very cold.
paleltaa – to feel cold (impersonal structure), to be cold
- Minua paleltaa. – I feel cold / I’m freezing.
  (literally “It makes me feel cold.”)

So paleltuvat here means the hands themselves are becoming too cold, to the point of possible frostbite or pain, not just “I feel a bit chilly”.

Why is the verb in plural paleltuvat and not singular paleltuu?

The subject is kädet (hands), which is plural, so the verb must also be 3rd person plural:

käsi paleltuu – a hand gets frostbitten (singular)
kädet paleltuvat – hands get frostbitten (plural)

Finnish verbs agree with the number (singular/plural) and person of the subject; you generally can’t use a singular verb with a plural subject in standard Finnish.

Can the word order be changed, for example to Kädet paleltuvat nopeasti talvella ilman hanskoja?

Yes, the word order is fairly flexible. All of these are grammatical:

Talvella ilman hanskoja kädet paleltuvat nopeasti.
Talvella kädet paleltuvat nopeasti ilman hanskoja.
Kädet paleltuvat nopeasti talvella ilman hanskoja.

The meaning stays the same, but the emphasis changes slightly:

Starting with Talvella emphasizes the time (“In winter, …”).
Starting with Kädet emphasizes the hands (“Hands get frostbitten quickly in winter without gloves.”).

The original order is quite neutral and natural.

Do you need commas around talvella or ilman hanskoja?

No commas are needed:

Talvella ilman hanskoja kädet paleltuvat nopeasti.

Both talvella (“in winter”) and ilman hanskoja (“without gloves”) are just adverbials (time and manner) inside the same clause, so they are not separated by commas in normal Finnish punctuation.

You might add commas in writing for a special rhythmic effect, but grammatically there is no comma required.

How is nopeasti formed, and could you just use nopea here?

Nopeasti is an adverb meaning quickly. It’s formed from the adjective nopea (fast, quick) by adding -sti:

nopea – fast, quick (adjective)
nopeasti – quickly (adverb)

In this sentence, you need an adverb to describe how the hands freeze, so nopea on its own would be wrong:

✅ kädet paleltuvat nopeasti – “hands get frostbitten quickly”
❌ kädet paleltuvat nopea

You could use a different adverb, e.g. erittäin nopeasti (“very quickly”) or herkästi (“easily, readily”), but it must still be an adverb.

Is the sentence talking about one specific winter, or winters in general?

In this form, Talvella ilman hanskoja kädet paleltuvat nopeasti is understood as a general statement: In winter (as a rule), without gloves, hands get frostbitten quickly.

To talk about a particular winter, you’d normally specify it, for example:

Tänä talvena ilman hanskoja kädet paleltuvat erityisen nopeasti.
– This winter, without gloves, hands get frostbitten especially quickly.