Kapea polku on metsässä.

The narrow path is in the forest.

Breakdown of Kapea polku on metsässä.

• olla: to be
• -ssa: in
• metsä: the forest
• kapea polku: the narrow path

Questions & Answers about Kapea polku on metsässä.

Why is there no word for a or the in this sentence?

Finnish does not have articles like a/an or the at all.

So:

• kapea polku can mean a narrow path or the narrow path, depending on context.
• You decide whether it’s a or the by context, not by a separate word.

The sentence Kapea polku on metsässä. can therefore be understood as:

• A narrow path is in the forest.
• The narrow path is in the forest.

Both are grammatically possible; only the larger context tells you which one is intended.

What does the -ssä ending in metsässä mean?

The ending -ssa / -ssä is the inessive case, which roughly means in something.

• metsä = forest
• metsä
  • -ssä = metsässä = in the forest

You choose -ssa or -ssä based on vowel harmony:

• front vowels (ä, ö, y) → -ssä
• back vowels (a, o, u) → -ssa

Since metsä has ä, it becomes metsässä, not metsässä.

Why is it kapea polku, not kapea polku on metsään or something like that?

Different cases express different relations in space.

• metsässä (inessive) = in the forest
• metsään (illative) = into the forest (movement towards the inside)

The sentence Kapea polku on metsässä. describes a location (where the path is), not movement.
So we use the inessive metsässä, not the illative metsään.

What is the function of on in this sentence?

on is the 3rd person singular form of the verb olla = to be.

• minä olen = I am
• sinä olet = you are
• hän / se on = he / she / it is

So here:

• polku = path (3rd person singular)
• on = is

Kapea polku on metsässä. literally: Narrow path is in-the-forest.
Finnish needs the verb olla (on) here; you cannot just say Kapea polku metsässä the way you might drop is in headlines in English.

Why is kapea before polku? Could it be after, like polku kapea?

Normally, descriptive adjectives come before the noun in Finnish:

• kapea polku = a narrow path
• suuri talo = a big house
• vanha auto = an old car

polku kapea can exist in some contexts, but then it behaves more like a predicate:

• Polku on kapea. = The path is narrow.
• In colloquial or poetic language you might see Polku kapea on., but this is not neutral, basic word order.

So:

• kapea polku → narrow path (adjective + noun)
• polku on kapea → the path is narrow (noun + verb + adjective)

Why are both kapea and polku in the basic form? Shouldn’t they change for the case?

In Kapea polku on metsässä., kapea polku is the subject of the verb on, so it stays in the nominative singular (the basic dictionary form, except for words whose nominative already ends in something like -n).

• kapea (nominative singular adjective)
• polku (nominative singular noun)

The location is expressed separately by metsässä (inessive case). So:

• Subject: kapea polku (nominative)
• Verb: on
• Place adverbial: metsässä (inessive)

Adjectives in Finnish agree with the noun in case and number, but here both are nominative singular, so both just look like their dictionary forms.

Could I say Metsässä on kapea polku instead? What is the difference?

Yes, Metsässä on kapea polku is perfectly grammatical, but it has a slightly different focus:

• Kapea polku on metsässä.

  • Feels more like: The narrow path is (located) in the forest.
  • The path is the topic; we are saying where it is.

• Metsässä on kapea polku.

  • Feels more like: In the forest there is a narrow path.
  • The forest is the starting point; we are introducing the existence of a path there.
  • This is a typical existential sentence pattern: [location] + on + [new thing]

So:

• Talking about the path’s location → Kapea polku on metsässä.
• Talking about what exists in the forest → Metsässä on kapea polku.

Why is it metsässä, not metsässässä or something longer? Isn’t ss already there?

The -ssä ending already contains the s that expresses in. You do not repeat the stem’s consonant.

The base noun:

• metsä (no s at the end)

Add the inessive ending:

• metsä
  • -ssä → metsässä

There’s only one pair of ss, from the ending itself:

• ä + ssä → ässä

So:

• Stem: metsä
• Ending: -ssä
• Result: metsässä

How do I pronounce the ä in kapea and metsässä?

The vowel ä in Finnish is like the a in English cat or bad, but usually a bit purer and more fronted.

Pronunciation tips:

• kapea: KA-pe-a

  • ka (a as in father, short), pe (as in pet), a (again like father, short)
  • Stress is always on the first syllable: KA-pe-a

• metsässä: MET-säs-sä

  • me like meh, tsä with ä as in cat, then ssä again with ä as in cat
  • Double s is held slightly longer: -ss-
  • Stress on the first syllable: MET-säs-sä

Main points:

• ä is not the same as a in Finnish.
• Stress the first syllable of the word.

Why isn’t it kapeaa polkua on metsässä or something with -a/-ä endings?

The -a / -ä ending often marks the partitive case, which is used for:

• incomplete actions
• some quantities
• certain objects
• existential sentences when introducing indefinite, often uncountable or “some” type of things

In this sentence, kapea polku is simply the subject in a neutral statement about its location, so nominative is used:

• Kapea polku on metsässä. = The narrow path is in the forest. (stating a fact about a specific path)

A partitive version might appear in a different kind of sentence, for example:

• Metsässä on kapeaa polkua. (very unusual, and would sound like there is some narrow path in a more abstract or uncountable sense)

For a normal, concrete path, nominative kapea polku is the right form.

Does kapea change form if there are many paths?

Yes, adjectives agree with the noun in number (singular/plural) and case.

Singular:

• kapea polku on metsässä. = The narrow path is in the forest.

Plural:

• kapeat polut ovat metsässä. = The narrow paths are in the forest.

Changes:

• polku → polut (plural nominative)
• kapea → kapeat (plural nominative, matching the noun)
• on (is) → ovat (are)

The location metsässä (in the forest) stays the same.

Why is Kapea capitalized? Is it special?

Kapea is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.
In the middle of a sentence, you would write it with a lowercase k:

• Se on kapea polku metsässä. = It is a narrow path in the forest.

Finnish capitalizes:

• the first word of a sentence,
• proper names (people, places, etc.),

but ordinary adjectives like kapea are otherwise written with lowercase letters.

Could the verb on be left out, like in newspaper headlines?

In standard Finnish grammar, you should not omit the verb on here.

• Full sentence: Kapea polku on metsässä.
• If you drop on, Kapea polku metsässä is not a normal, complete sentence.

Very occasionally in stylistic or headline language, verbs might be dropped, but that is:

• not standard grammar for learners,
• not how you should form basic sentences.

So you should treat on as required in ordinary Finnish: subject + on + place.

Is polku related to any other Finnish words I might see?

Yes, polku (path) appears in several compounds and related forms:

• polkua – partitive singular of polku
• polulle – onto the path (illative: movement to the path)
• polulla – on the path (adessive: on, at)
• polulta – from the path (ablative: off, from)

Compounds:

• polkupyörä = bicycle (literally something like path-wheel)
• polkujuoksu = trail running (path + running)

So as you learn more cases and compounds, you will see polku in many forms, but in this sentence it’s just the basic nominative form.