Breakdown of Naurava tyttö piirtää kuvaa keittiössä.
Questions & Answers about Naurava tyttö piirtää kuvaa keittiössä.
Naurava is the present active participle of the verb nauraa (to laugh).
- nauraa = to laugh (basic verb form)
- stem: naura-
- participle: naurava = laughing
In this sentence, naurava is used like an adjective describing tyttö (girl). So naurava tyttö literally means laughing girl.
Finnish often uses these -va / -vä participles to turn verbs into adjective-like forms:
- itkeä → itkevä (cry → crying)
- laulaa → laulava (sing → singing)
They are close in meaning but work differently in the sentence.
naurava tyttö = the laughing girl
- naurava directly modifies tyttö like an adjective.
- It’s a noun phrase.
tyttö nauraa = the girl is laughing / laughs
- tyttö is the subject, nauraa is the main verb.
- It’s a full clause.
So:
Naurava tyttö piirtää kuvaa keittiössä.
Focus on a particular kind of girl: the laughing one.Tyttö nauraa ja piirtää kuvaa keittiössä.
Two actions the girl is doing: laughing and drawing.
Tyttö is in the nominative case, which is the normal form for the subject of a sentence.
- tyttö = nominative (subject form): the girl
- tytön = genitive: of the girl or the girl’s
- tyttöä = partitive: used in certain object/subject roles (e.g. I see a girl = näen tyttöä, in some contexts)
Here, the girl is simply the subject who is doing the action, so nominative tyttö is correct.
In Finnish, the basic dictionary form and the 3rd person singular present are often identical.
For piirtää (to draw):
- Basic infinitive: piirtää
- 3rd person singular present: hän piirtää = he/she draws / is drawing
So in the sentence, piirtää is conjugated for hän (3rd person singular), agreeing with tyttö:
- (tyttö) piirtää = the girl draws / is drawing
It just happens to look the same as the infinitive.
Finnish does not have a special progressive tense like English is drawing.
The form piirtää can mean:
- draws (habitual, general)
- is drawing (right now, ongoing)
Context decides which English translation feels more natural. In this isolated sentence, both:
- The laughing girl draws a picture in the kitchen.
- The laughing girl is drawing a picture in the kitchen. are possible translations of Naurava tyttö piirtää kuvaa keittiössä.
Kuvaa is the partitive singular of kuva (picture).
Object case in Finnish depends on things like:
- Is the action ongoing / incomplete?
- Is the object indefinite / uncounted / “not whole”?
Piirtää kuvaa suggests the drawing is in progress or not presented as a completed, whole picture:
- piirtää kuvaa ≈ is (in the process of) drawing a picture
Compare:
- Piirtää kuvan. = draws / will draw the picture (total, finished result)
- Piirtää kuvaa. = is drawing a picture (process, not focusing on a finished product)
So kuvaa is used because the sentence describes an ongoing action rather than a completed one.
Both come from kuva (picture), but they are different cases and give a different nuance:
kuvaa = partitive singular
- Often used for incomplete actions or indefinite objects.
- Emphasis on the process of drawing, not the completed picture.
kuvan = genitive singular, used as a total object
- Often used when the action is or will be completed, or the object is seen as a whole.
Examples:
- Tyttö piirtää kuvaa.
The girl is drawing a picture (ongoing, process). - Tyttö piirtää kuvan.
The girl will draw / draws the picture (to completion).
Keittiössä means in the kitchen.
It is:
- keittiö = kitchen
- -ssä = inessive case ending “in, inside”
Because keittiö has front vowels (e, i, ö), the inessive ending appears as -ssä (not -ssa). So:
- keittiö
- -ssä → keittiössä = in the kitchen
These are different local cases with different meanings:
keittiössä = in the kitchen
- inessive (inside a place)
keittiöön = into the kitchen
- illative (movement into)
keittiöstä = from the kitchen
- elative (movement out of / from inside)
You could say, for example:
- Tyttö menee keittiöön. – The girl goes into the kitchen.
- Tyttö on keittiössä. – The girl is in the kitchen.
- Tyttö tulee keittiöstä. – The girl comes from the kitchen.
Finnish word order is fairly flexible, but there are preferences.
The most neutral order is:
- Subject (with its modifiers): Naurava tyttö
- Verb: piirtää
- Object: kuvaa
- Place/time etc.: keittiössä
You can move some parts for emphasis, e.g.:
- Keittiössä naurava tyttö piirtää kuvaa.
Emphasis on in the kitchen.
But you cannot freely move naurava after tyttö:
- ✗ Tyttö naurava piirtää kuvaa keittiössä. (ungrammatical)
Adjectives and participles like naurava normally come before the noun they modify: naurava tyttö.
Yes. You could use a relative clause instead of the participle:
- Tyttö, joka nauraa, piirtää kuvaa keittiössä.
The girl who is laughing is drawing a picture in the kitchen.
Here:
- joka nauraa (who laughs / is laughing) is a clause modifying tyttö.
- The meaning is very close, but naurava tyttö is more compact and stylistically typical in written Finnish.
Yes. As a participle used like an adjective, naurava agrees with the noun it modifies.
Examples:
- naurava tyttö – a laughing girl (singular nominative)
- nauravan tytön – of the laughing girl (singular genitive)
- nauravaa tyttöä – partitive
- nauravat tytöt – laughing girls (plural nominative)
In your sentence, naurava tyttö is singular nominative, matching the subject.