Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle.

Don't forget to put on your coat.

Breakdown of Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle.

• unohtaa: to forget
• älä: don't
• takki: the coat
• pukea päälle: to put on

Questions & Answers about Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle.

What does Älä mean, and why isn’t ei used here?

Älä is the negative imperative form for you (singular). It corresponds to English “don’t” when you are giving a direct command to one person.

Finnish has a special negative verb in the imperative:

• (sinä) älä = don’t (you, singular)
• (te) älkää = don’t (you, plural)
• älköön = let him/her not
• älkööt = let them not

Ei is the normal negative verb for statements (e.g. en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät) but not for prohibitions. For commands you must use älä / älkää / älköön / älkööt instead of ei.

Why is it unohda and not unohdat or unohdi?

Unohda is the imperative form of unohtaa (to forget) for you, singular.

• Normal present tense: (sinä) unohdat = you forget
• Imperative (command): (sinä) unohda = forget!

When you make a negative command, you combine:

• Älä (negative imperative)
• the imperative form of the main verb

So:

• Unohda! = Forget!
• Älä unohda! = Don’t forget!

Unohdi is not a correct form here; the correct 2nd-person singular imperative of unohtaa is unohda.

How does the structure Älä unohda + verb in basic form work?

This is a very common pattern and is directly parallel to English “Don’t forget to …”.

• Älä unohda syödä. = Don’t forget to eat.
• Älä unohda soittaa. = Don’t forget to call.
• Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle. = Don’t forget to put your coat on.

After unohtaa (to forget) and muistaa (to remember), Finnish typically uses the 1st infinitive (dictionary form) of the following verb:

• muista + tehdä = remember to do
• unohda + tehdä = forget to do

So pukea here is just the basic dictionary form “to dress / to put on (clothes)” used in this infinitive construction.

Why is pukea used instead of pukeutua or laittaa?

Finnish distinguishes between a few different “put on clothes” verbs:

• pukea = to dress someone / to put a garment on
  
  • pukea takki päälle = to put a coat on (someone)
• pukeutua = to get dressed (oneself), to dress in something
  
  • pukeutua takkiin / pukeutua lämpimästi = to dress in a coat / dress warmly
• laittaa (takki päälle) = literally “to put (a coat on)”; very common in everyday speech

In your sentence, pukea takkia päälle literally means “to dress a coat onto (oneself)”, which is a natural idiomatic way of saying “put a coat on”.

You could also hear:

• Älä unohda laittaa takkia päälle.

but pukea … päälle is perfectly normal and a bit more “dress/clothing”-specific than laittaa.

What does pukea takkia päälle literally mean?

Literally, it breaks down as:

• pukea = to dress / put clothing on
• takkia = a coat (in partitive case)
• päälle = onto (on top of)

So it’s something like “to dress a coat onto (oneself)”.

In natural English we just say “to put a coat on”, but Finnish keeps the idea of moving the coat onto the body via päälle (“onto, on top of”) and uses pukea for the dressing action.

Why is it takkia (partitive) and not takin or takki?

Takkia is the partitive singular of takki (“coat”). The choice of partitive here is strongly influenced by the negation in the main verb Älä unohda….

In sentences where a main verb of remembering/forgetting is negative, the object of the following infinitive verb is very often in the partitive:

• Älä unohda ottaa lääkettäsi.
  Don’t forget to take your medicine. (partitive lääkettäsi)
• En muistanut ostaa maitoa.
  I didn’t remember to buy milk. (partitive maitoa)

Your sentence fits this pattern:

• Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle.
  Don’t forget to put (a / your) coat on.

If we flip it to a positive “remember” sentence, you will often see the total object instead:

• Muista pukea takki päälle.
  Remember to put your coat on.

So very roughly:

• Negative “don’t forget to X” → object in partitive (takkia) is common
• Positive “remember to X” → object often in total case (takki / takin depending on context)

Both takki and takkia can appear in related expressions, but in this exact negative structure takkia is very typical and natural.

How would I show “your coat” explicitly in Finnish? Where is “your” here?

In everyday Finnish, possessive pronouns like “your” are often left out when it’s obvious from context whose item is involved, especially with clothes on your own body. So:

• Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle.
  is naturally understood as
  “Don’t forget to put your coat on.”

If you really want to make “your” explicit, Finnish usually uses a possessive suffix instead of a separate word like “your”:

• Älä unohda pukea takkiasi päälle.
  Don’t forget to put your coat on.
  (takkiasi = your coat, partitive + possessive suffix -si)
• Älä unohda pukea takkia päällesi.
  Don’t forget to put a coat on yourself.
  (päällesi = on you, onto you)

Both are correct; in normal conversation people are quite happy with the shorter:

• Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle.

What exactly is päälle, and how is it different from päällä?

Both come from the noun pää (“head, top, surface”) and are used as postpositions, but:

• päälle = onto, onto the top of (movement, direction)
• päällä = on (top of) (location, no movement)

Examples:

• Laita kirja pöydän päälle.
  Put the book onto the table. (movement → päälle)
• Kirja on pöydän päällä.
  The book is on the table. (location → päällä)

With clothes:

• pukea takkia päälle = to put the coat on (onto yourself)
• takki on päällä = the coat is on (you are wearing it)

So päälle in your sentence tells us there is a putting on action, not just a static “having a coat on”.

Why is there no explicit word for “you” or “yourself” in the sentence?

Finnish often leaves subject pronouns out because the verb ending already shows the person.

• (Sinä) unohdat. = You forget.
• (Sinä) unohda. = Forget! (imperative)
• (Sinä) älä unohda. = Don’t forget!

The imperative form plus Älä already imply “you (singular)”, so saying sinä would usually be redundant unless you want to emphasize it:

• Älä sinä unohda pukea takkia päälle.
  Don’t you forget to put your coat on. (stress on you)

“Yourself” is also understood from context. Finnish often uses reflexive-like meaning without any extra word, especially with body and clothing verbs. The action “put coat on” is naturally interpreted as “on yourself” unless something else is clearly meant.

Is the word order Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle fixed? Can I move päälle or takkia?

The given order is the most natural:

• Älä unohda (don’t forget)
• pukea takkia (to put a coat on)
• päälle (onto)

Two relevant tendencies:

1. The verb unohtaa is typically followed directly by its infinitive clause:
   unohda + pukea takkia päälle.
2. The postposition/adverb päälle normally comes after the thing that ends up on top of something (here, implicitly “on you”).

You might see slight variations like:

• Älä unohda takkia pukea päälle.
  (possible but a bit marked / stylistic)

However, something like:

• Älä unohda päälle pukea takkia.

sounds quite unnatural. For learners, it’s best to keep:

Älä unohda + [verb phrase] + päälle
Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle.

How would the sentence change if I’m speaking to more than one person (“you all”)?

For plural you, both the negative verb and the main verb change:

• Älkää = plural negative imperative “don’t (you all)”
• unohtako = plural imperative form of unohtaa

So the full sentence is:

• Älkää unohtako pukea takkia päälle.
  Don’t (you all) forget to put your coats on.

The rest (pukea takkia päälle) stays the same; only the parts that encode who is being addressed change.

How would I say “Don’t forget that you already have your coat on” in Finnish? (i.e. not “put on” but “have on”)

Then you want a that-clause instead of a verb + infinitive structure, and a static “have on” construction:

• Älä unohda, että sinulla on takki päällä.
  Don’t forget that you have your coat on.

Here:

• että = that
• sinulla on = literally “at you is” → you have
• takki päällä = the coat is on (you)

Compare:

• Älä unohda pukea takkia päälle.
  Don’t forget to put your coat on. (movement, putting on)
• Älä unohda, että sinulla on takki päällä.
  Don’t forget that you have your coat on. (no movement, it’s already on)