Breakdown of Olen naimisissa, mutta siskoni on vielä naimaton ja hänellä on uusi tyttöystävä.
Questions & Answers about Olen naimisissa, mutta siskoni on vielä naimaton ja hänellä on uusi tyttöystävä.
Finnish treats “being married” as a state expressed with the verb olla (to be) plus the word naimisissa.
- olen = I am
- naimisissa = literally “in marriage” (historically an inessive form of a noun), but in modern Finnish it’s just a fixed adjective‑like word meaning married.
So Olen naimisissa = I am married (describing your current status), not an action like I marry.
If you talk about the action of getting married, you need another verb, e.g.:
- Menin naimisiin = I got married / I went and married (someone).
So:
- Olen naimisissa = I am married (state now).
- Menin naimisiin = I got married (action in the past).
They describe opposite marital statuses and have different grammar roles:
naimisissa
- Used with olla: olla naimisissa = to be married.
- Formally an adverb/adjectival form meaning something like “in marriage”.
- Example: Hän on naimisissa. = He/She is married.
naimaton
- An adjective formed with the suffix -ton / -tön, which often means without X.
- So naimaton = without marriage → unmarried.
- Example: Hän on naimaton. = He/She is unmarried.
Everyday nuance:
- naimaton is a bit more formal / official status (forms, documents, factual statement).
- People also often say sinkku (= “single”) in casual speech: Hän on sinkku.
siskoni is sisko (sister) + the possessive suffix -ni (= my).
- sisko = sister
- -ni = my
- siskoni = my sister
In Finnish, possession with family members and similar nouns is very often shown with a suffix instead of (or in addition to) a separate pronoun.
You can say either:
- Siskoni on vielä naimaton.
- Minun siskoni on vielä naimaton.
Both mean My sister is still unmarried.
Differences:
- siskoni alone is the most neutral, everyday way.
- minun siskoni often adds emphasis to my (for contrast: my sister, not someone else’s), or just sounds a bit fuller/more explicit.
Yes, in written Finnish it is normal (and usually required) to put a comma before mutta when it connects two independent clauses.
Here, you basically have two separate sentences:
- Olen naimisissa.
- Siskoni on vielä naimaton ja hänellä on uusi tyttöystävä.
When you join them with mutta (but), you separate them with a comma:
- Olen naimisissa, mutta siskoni on vielä naimaton…
So the comma marks the boundary between two full clauses, just as in English:
- I am married, but my sister is still unmarried…
Finnish normally expresses possession with the structure olla + a case-marked pronoun, not with a verb meaning “to own”.
- olla = to be
- hänellä = “on/at her/him” (adessive case of hän)
- on = is / has (in this pattern)
So Hänellä on uusi tyttöystävä literally is:
- “On her (there) is a new girlfriend” → She has a new girlfriend.
This is the default way to say someone has something:
- Minulla on auto. = I have a car.
- Meillä on koira. = We have a dog.
The verb omistaa does mean “to own”, but it’s more formal and not used for basic “have” in everyday speech:
- Hän omistaa kaksi taloa. = He/She owns two houses. (stressing legal/real ownership)
Hänellä is the adessive case of hän (he/she).
- hän = he / she (gender‑neutral in Finnish)
- -llä / -llä (adessive ending) typically means “on, at, with”.
In the hänellä on structure:
- hänellä = on/at him or her
- on = is
This case is used to mark the possessor. So literally:
- Hänellä on uusi tyttöystävä. = “On her there is a new girlfriend.” → She has a new girlfriend.
Other examples:
- Minulla on kylmä. = I am cold (literally: “On me is cold.”)
- Opettajalla on kirja. = The teacher has a book.
In modern standard Finnish, tyttöystävä almost always means a romantic partner: girlfriend.
- tyttö = girl
- ystävä = friend
- tyttöystävä = girlfriend (romantic, in a relationship)
For a non‑romantic female friend, people would normally say:
- ystävä (friend, gender not specified)
- naisystävä can sound old‑fashioned or ambiguous; context matters.
Similarly:
- poikaystävä = boyfriend (romantic partner).
So in this sentence, hänellä on uusi tyttöystävä is clearly understood as she has a new girlfriend (romantic partner).
You’re right that hän does not mark gender; it just means he/she.
In this particular sentence, the gender comes from context and world knowledge, not grammar:
- siskoni = my sister (female)
- hänellä on uusi tyttöystävä = he/she has a new girlfriend
Since siskoni is female, it’s natural to interpret hänellä as referring back to my sister, so it’s understood as she.
If the context were different, hän could be translated as he instead. Finnish does not grammatically force a choice of he/she; English does, so translators pick the one that fits the context.
You can say either, but the nuance is different:
- Siskoni on naimaton. = My sister is unmarried. (neutral factual statement)
- Siskoni on vielä naimaton. = My sister is still unmarried.
vielä means still / yet and suggests:
- There is an expectation or at least an idea that the situation might change later.
- It subtly contrasts her current status with a possible future status (e.g., she might get married later).
In the full sentence, the contrast is:
- I am married, but my sister is still unmarried (for now).
Basic, natural word order is:
- Siskoni on vielä naimaton.
You can sometimes move vielä around, but it often changes emphasis or sounds less natural.
Some possibilities:
- Siskoni on vielä naimaton. (most natural)
- Vielä siskoni on naimaton. (possible but marked, emphasizes still, might sound literary or dramatic)
- Siskoni on naimaton vielä. (can occur in speech, but usually vielä is placed before the adjective; this version can sound a bit informal or slightly off in neutral written Finnish)
For learners, it’s best to keep:
- adverbs like vielä before the main adjective: vielä naimaton.
Finnish doesn’t have articles (no direct equivalents of a/an or the). The phrase uusi tyttöystävä just means “new girlfriend” in a general sense.
The “a / the” distinction is usually understood from context:
- In English: She has *a new girlfriend.*
- In Finnish: Hänellä on uusi tyttöystävä.
Could it mean the new girlfriend? Yes, if the context had already introduced that particular girlfriend, the same Finnish phrase could be translated as the new girlfriend in English. Finnish doesn’t grammatically mark the difference; translators add “a” or “the” based on what fits the context.
As a rule for learning:
- When you see a bare noun like uusi tyttöystävä, think “a/an” by default unless context strongly suggests “the”.
naimisissa is pronounced roughly: [nai-mi-sis-sa].
Syllables: nai–mi–sis–sa
Stress: always on the first syllable in Finnish → NAI‑mi‑sis‑sa.
Key points:
- The ai is a diphthong, like “eye” in English.
- The double ss in -sissa is a long consonant. In Finnish, consonant length can change meaning, so you must hold the s slightly longer than a single s.
Compare:
- masa vs massa (different words; massa has a longer s).
So in naimisissa, don’t blur the double ss into a single s; pronounce it clearly as a long s sound.