Breakdown of Kirjoitin kommentin opettajan videon alle, koska pidin siitä.
Questions & Answers about Kirjoitin kommentin opettajan videon alle, koska pidin siitä.
Kirjoitin is the past tense (imperfect) form of kirjoittaa for I.
- kirjoitan = I write / I am writing (present tense)
- kirjoitin = I wrote (past tense)
The ending -n marks 1st person singular (I), and the -i- inside the verb stem usually signals the past tense in Finnish verbs:
- kirjoita-n → I write
- kirjoit-i-n → I wrote
So the sentence is clearly talking about something that happened in the past.
Kommentti is the basic form (nominative).
Kommentin is the accusative/genitive form of the object, used here because:
- the object (kommentti) is singular,
- the action is completed (you fully wrote the comment),
- and the verb is in a finite form (here: past tense).
In Finnish, a total, completed object often appears in the genitive-looking form ending in -n:
- Luet kommenttia. – You are reading (some of) the comment. (ongoing, partitive)
- Luet kommentin. – You read the (whole) comment. (total object, completed)
Similarly:
- Kirjoitin kommenttia. – I was (in the process of) writing a comment.
- Kirjoitin kommentin. – I wrote the comment (finished it).
So kommentin signals that the comment is a whole, completed object of the action.
In Finnish, possession is usually expressed with the genitive case.
- opettaja = teacher (basic form)
- opettajan = teacher’s (genitive: belonging to the teacher)
So:
- opettaja video would just be two nouns stuck together and is not correct.
- opettajan video means the teacher’s video.
The pattern is:
- opettaja → opettajan (teacher → teacher’s)
- ystävä → ystävän (friend → friend’s)
- tyttö → tytön (girl → girl’s)
So opettajan videon literally is the teacher’s video’s (because both are in genitive here for grammatical reasons, see the next question).
There are two separate things going on here:
videon
- video = video (basic)
videon = video’s (genitive)
In the phrase opettajan videon alle, videon is connected to alle, forming a phrase videon alle: under the video. The genitive is often used before postpositions like alle, päällä, eteen, takana, etc.
alle vs alla
These come from the word alla (under), but they differ in case:- alla (adessive) = under in the sense of being located under
- Kommentti on videon alla. – The comment is under the video.
- alle (allative) = to under in the sense of moving to a place under
- Kirjoitin kommentin videon alle. – I wrote a comment (to appear) under the video.
- alla (adessive) = under in the sense of being located under
So:
- videon alla = under the video (location, static)
- videon alle = to under the video (direction / end point of movement or placement)
In this sentence, you are placing the comment so that it ends up under the video → videon alle.
In Finnish, postpositions like alle usually come after the noun phrase they belong to, not before it:
- videon alle = under the video
- not alle videon
When there is a longer noun phrase, the structure is:
possessor (genitive) + head noun (often in genitive before a postposition) + postposition
So:
- opettajan videon alle = under the teacher’s video
- lasten pöydän alle = under the children’s table
Putting alle at the beginning (alle opettajan videon) would sound wrong and un-Finnish. Postpositions keep their position after the noun phrase.
The verb pitää meaning to like has a special pattern:
pitää + elative case (‑sta / ‑stä form) = to like something
So:
- pidän musiikista – I like music.
- pidän sinusta – I like you.
- pidin siitä – I liked it.
Here, siitä is the elative form of se (it / that):
- se → siitä (from it / about it)
Why not se or sen?
- pidin se – wrong, because pitää
- object doesn’t work like English “like something”.
- pidin sen – would instead suggest a different pattern, like “I held it” (from pitää = to hold/keep), where sen is the object.
So, when pitää = to like, you must use -sta / -stä / siitä:
- pidän kahvista – I like coffee.
- pidin siitä – I liked it.
Siitä here refers back to the teacher’s video.
The full phrase is:
- Kirjoitin kommentin opettajan videon alle, koska pidin siitä.
→ … because I liked it.
Contextually, siitä = opettajan videosta:
- more explicit: …koska pidin opettajan videosta. – because I liked the teacher’s video.
Using siitä instead of repeating opettajan video is natural and avoids repetition, just like English uses it.
Finnish usually drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.
- minä pidän = I like
- pidän = I like (the -n tells you “I”)
- minä pidin = I liked
- pidin = I liked
In your sentence:
- pidin already shows 1st person singular through the -n ending.
- Adding minä is possible but not necessary:
- …, koska minä pidin siitä. – also correct, just more emphatic.
So “I” is built into the verb ending.
In Finnish, when you have a main clause and a subordinate clause with koska (because), you usually separate them with a comma:
- Kirjoitin kommentin opettajan videon alle, (main clause)
- koska pidin siitä. (subordinate clause, reason)
Examples:
- Menin kotiin, koska olin väsynyt. – I went home because I was tired.
- En tullut, koska olin kipeä. – I didn’t come because I was ill.
So the comma before koska is regular Finnish punctuation, not optional decoration.
You can, but it sounds a bit heavy and repetitive.
- koska pidin siitä videosta literally: because I liked that video (there).
- koska pidin siitä: because I liked it – smoother and more natural when the reference is obvious.
If you really want to mention video again, a more natural repeat would be:
- …, koska pidin siitä videosta.
(using siitä- videosta together for emphasis: that video there).
But in ordinary speech and writing, koska pidin siitä is preferred here, since “it” is very clear from context.