Breakdown of Otan ostoskorin ovella, ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville.
Questions & Answers about Otan ostoskorin ovella, ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville.
Otan is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb ottaa (to take).
- infinitive: ottaa = to take
- stem: otta-
- personal ending for I: -n
- otta-
- -n → otan = I take
Finnish usually uses the present tense for both:
- English present: I take a basket at the door.
- English near future: I’ll take a basket at the door.
So otan here means I take / I will take, depending on context. There is no separate future tense; context gives the future meaning.
Ostoskorin is the object form of ostoskori (shopping basket). Formally, it looks like the genitive singular.
- basic form (nominative): ostoskori = shopping basket
- object / genitive singular: ostoskorin
In this sentence, otan ostoskorin describes a complete, bounded action (you take one whole basket), so Finnish uses a total object. For a singular noun, the total object is usually -n:
- otan ostoskorin = I take the (whole) shopping basket
- otan vettä (partitive) = I take (some) water
So:
- ostoskorin here is a total object (often called genitive object) because the action is complete and affects the whole basket.
All three are different location cases of ovi (door):
- ovella = adessive: at/on the door
- ovessa = inessive: in the door / inside the door
- ovelle = allative: onto the door / to the door
In this sentence, the meaning is at the door / by the door, i.e. you are located near or at the door when you take the basket. That’s expressed with adessive:
- otan ostoskorin ovella = I take a basket at the door
Ovessa would sound like something is literally inside the door, and ovelle would emphasize movement to the door rather than already being there.
Ennen literally means before and is used mainly:
With a noun:
- ennen juhlaa = before the party
- ennen kauppaa = before the shop
With a -mista verb noun:
- ennen menemistä = before going
But when what follows is a full clause with a finite verb, Finnish normally uses ennen kuin:
- ennen kuin menen = before I go
- ennen kuin syön = before I eat
So in your sentence:
- ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville
is a full clause (before I go to the aisles), so kuin is required.
Using ennen menen is ungrammatical.
Yes. In standard written Finnish, you separate a main clause and a subordinate clause with a comma, regardless of their order.
Your sentence has:
- main clause: Otan ostoskorin ovella
- subordinate clause: ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville
Therefore a comma is required:
- Otan ostoskorin ovella, ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville.
If you reverse the order, you still keep a comma between them (see another question below).
Literally, kaupan käytäville is:
- kaupan = of the shop / the shop’s (genitive singular of kauppa, shop)
- käytäville = to the aisles (illative plural of käytävä, aisle)
So:
- kauppa (shop) → kaupan (shop’s / of the shop)
- käytävä (aisle) → stem käytävä- → käytäville (to the aisles)
Illative plural -ille/-eille expresses movement into / onto / to several things:
- pöytä → pöydille = onto the tables
- käytävä → käytäville = to the aisles
Thus kaupan käytäville = to the shop’s aisles / to the aisles of the shop.
Formally, yes: both kaupan and ostoskorin use the -n ending, but they play different roles in the sentence.
kaupan
- base form: kauppa (shop)
- form: kaupan = genitive singular
- function: modifier: it describes which aisles → the shop’s aisles
- phrase: kaupan käytäville = to the shop’s aisles
ostoskorin
- base form: ostoskori (shopping basket)
- form: ostoskorin = genitive/accusative singular
- function: total object of otan = I take the basket
So morphologically both are -n, but:
- kaupan = genitive modifier (of the shop)
- ostoskorin = object (what I take).
Because it refers to the aisles in general, not to one specific aisle.
- singular illative: käytävälle = to the (one) aisle
- plural illative: käytäville = to the aisles
Saying kaupan käytäville fits the idea that a shop has many aisles, and you are going into the aisles as an area or system, not targeting just one.
If you said:
- menen kaupan käytävälle
it would sound like you are going to one particular aisle, for example a specific aisle you mentioned earlier.
Yes, that is fully grammatical:
- Ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville, otan ostoskorin ovella.
Finnish allows relatively free word order. The meaning stays the same; what changes is focus:
Otan ostoskorin ovella, ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville.
→ Focus starts with what you do (take a basket), then adds when you do it.Ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville, otan ostoskorin ovella.
→ Focus starts with the time condition (before I go), then tells what you do before that.
In both cases, you keep the comma between the clauses.
Finnish has no articles like English a/an or the. Definiteness and indefiniteness are expressed by:
- word order and context
- case forms
- sometimes by demonstratives (like tämä, se)
In your sentence:
- otan ostoskorin ovella
can mean:- I take *a shopping basket at the door*
- I take *the shopping basket at the door*
English must choose a or the, but Finnish doesn’t mark that directly. In a typical shopping context, an English speaker would naturally translate it as:
- I take *a shopping basket at the door.*
The specificity (a vs the) is inferred from context, not from any article word.
In standard written Finnish, you should keep the comma between the main clause and the subordinate clause:
- Otan ostoskorin ovella, ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville.
Leaving out the comma is generally considered incorrect in careful writing.
In very informal text or speech transcripts, commas are sometimes dropped, but the normative rule is:
- Always put a comma between a main clause and a finite subordinate clause such as one introduced by ennen kuin.
The subject pronoun minä (I) is optional in Finnish, because the person ending on the verb shows who is doing the action.
- otan already tells us it is I (1st person singular)
- menen also tells us it is I
So:
- Minä otan ostoskorin ovella, ennen kuin minä menen kaupan käytäville.
is grammatically correct, but sounds heavier and is only used when you want to emphasize minä (e.g. contrast: I take the basket, not someone else).
The natural neutral sentence drops minä, as in your example.
Yes:
Otan
- verb ottaa (to take)
- 1st person singular, present tense
- meaning: I take / I will take
ostoskorin
- noun ostoskori = shopping basket
- form: genitive/accusative singular (-n)
- function: total object of otan → the/a shopping basket
ovella
- noun ovi = door
- case: adessive singular -lla = at, on, by
- meaning: at the door / by the door
,
- comma separating main clause and subordinate clause
ennen
- postposition/conjunction: before
- used with kuin when followed by a finite verb clause
kuin
- here: part of the conjunction ennen kuin = before (I/you etc. do something)
menen
- verb mennä = to go
- 1st person singular, present tense → I go / I will go
kaupan
- noun kauppa = shop, store
- case: genitive singular -n
- function: modifier → of the shop / the shop’s
- together with käytäville: to the shop’s aisles
käytäville
- noun käytävä = corridor, aisle
- stem: käytävä-, plural stem käytävä- → käytävi-
- case: illative plural -lle → -ille = to / into (several things)
- meaning: to the aisles
Put together:
- Otan ostoskorin ovella, ennen kuin menen kaupan käytäville.
→ I take a shopping basket at the door, before I go to the aisles of the shop.