Breakdown of Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
Questions & Answers about Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
The base word is talvi (winter).
Talvella is adessive singular (-lla/-llä case).
For times and periods (seasons, parts of the day, certain time nouns), Finnish very often uses the adessive to mean “in / during / at”:
- talvella = in (the) winter / during winter
- kesällä = in (the) summer
- yöllä = at night
- päivällä = in the daytime
Talvessa (inessive, “in”) is grammatically possible but is rarely used this way and sounds unusual in a normal time-expression. For seasons, talvella is the natural, idiomatic choice for “in winter” or “during winter”.
It comfortably covers both English ideas. Context decides how you translate it:
- Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
- “In (the) winter the snow covers the grey roof completely.”
- or “During winter the snow covers the grey roof completely.”
You don’t need an article in Finnish; talvella can be general (“in winter, as a rule”) or specific (“in the winter we’re talking about”) depending on context.
Lumi is the subject of the sentence, so it normally appears in the nominative (basic form):
- lumi peittää = the snow covers
About the other forms:
- lumen = genitive (“of the snow”)
- lunta = partitive singular (“some snow”, “snow (as a substance)”)
Here we talk about snow in general as the thing that performs the action, so nominative lumi is correct.
If you wanted to talk about there being some snow somewhere, you would more likely use lunta:
- Katolla on lunta. = There is (some) snow on the roof.
Both harmaan (from harmaa) and katon (from katto) are in the genitive singular.
Here katon is functioning as a total object of the verb peittää:
- peittää katon = to cover the (whole) roof
In Finnish, a total object in the 3rd person singular is very often in the genitive when the action is viewed as completed / affecting the whole thing. Since the sentence says the snow covers the roof completely, the roof is affected as a whole, so genitive katon is used.
The adjective harmaa must agree with its noun in case, so it also takes -n:
- harmaa katto (nominative): a grey roof
- harmaan katon (genitive): of the grey roof / the grey roof (as a total object)
Harmaata kattoa puts both words in the partitive singular, which suggests partialness, incompleteness, or ongoing action:
- peittää harmaan katon
→ tends to mean it covers the whole roof (total object, completed) - peittää harmaata kattoa
→ suggests covering part of the grey roof, or snow is gradually covering it and we’re not presenting the event as completed.
In your actual sentence, we also have kokonaan (“completely”), which strongly supports the total object reading (harmaan katon).
So:
- Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
= In winter, the snow covers the entire grey roof.
Harmaata kattoa would feel mismatched with kokonaan in this simple sentence.
In Finnish, an adjective almost always agrees with the noun it describes in:
- case (nominative, genitive, partitive, etc.)
- number (singular/plural)
So:
- Nominative: harmaa katto = a grey roof
- Genitive: harmaan katon = of the grey roof / the grey roof (as object)
- Partitive: harmaata kattoa = (part of) a grey roof
Because katon is genitive, harmaa must also be genitive: harmaan.
Leaving it as harmaa katon is ungrammatical in standard Finnish.
The dictionary (infinitive) form is also peittää = “to cover”.
In the sentence it is 3rd person singular present tense:
- (se) peittää = it covers
Present tense of peittää:
- minä peitän
- sinä peität
- hän peittää
- me peitämme
- te peitätte
- he peittävät
So in Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan, peittää is “(the snow) covers”.
Finnish usually uses the present tense for:
- general truths / habits
- repeated or typical events
- future events, when the context makes the time clear
There is no separate, regular “will” future tense like in English. So:
- Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
Can mean:- “In winter, the snow covers the grey roof completely.” (general / habitual)
- Depending on context, even “This coming winter, the snow will cover the grey roof completely.”
The time expression talvella already situates the event, so Finnish does not need a special future form.
Yes, Finnish word order is relatively flexible, and your example is grammatical. Some common options:
- Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
(neutral, time at the beginning) - Lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan talvella.
- Lumi peittää talvella harmaan katon kokonaan.
- Talvella lumi peittää kokonaan harmaan katon.
The main effects of changing word order are:
- What is emphasized (the first element often has focus).
- What is “old” vs “new” information in a larger context.
For a standalone example, the given order Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan is very natural and clear.
Kokonaan means “completely, entirely, altogether”.
In this sentence, it emphasizes that the grey roof is fully covered by snow:
- Without it: Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon.
→ In winter the snow covers the grey roof. (may or may not be fully) - With it: Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
→ In winter the snow covers the grey roof completely.
It is an adverb and is fairly mobile. Some acceptable positions:
- Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
- Talvella lumi peittää kokonaan harmaan katon.
Usually it stays near the verb or the object. Placing it at the very start or somewhere very far away from the verb/object can sound odd or overly marked.
“On the grey roof” uses a local case, not the genitive:
- harmaa katto = grey roof (basic form)
- harmaalla katolla = on the grey roof (adessive singular)
So:
- harmaan katon (genitive) in your sentence is a direct object (the thing that gets covered).
- harmaalla katolla (adessive) would express location (“on the grey roof”).
Example:
- Talvella lunta on harmaalla katolla.
= In winter there is snow on the grey roof.
Compare:
- Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon.
= In winter the snow covers the grey roof (the roof is the thing being covered).
Yes, talvisin is a very natural way to mean “in winters / every winter / usually in winter”.
Talvella
- “in (the) winter / during winter”
- can refer to a specific coming winter, to winters in general, or to this winter, depending on context.
Talvisin
- focuses on regular repetition: “in wintertime as a rule, each winter”.
- feels clearly habitual.
Examples:
- Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
→ In winter the snow covers the grey roof completely. - Talvisin lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
→ Every winter, the snow covers the grey roof completely / In winters the snow covers…
Lumi is normally used as a mass noun in the singular when talking about snow in general or a large amount of snow:
- Paljon lunta. = a lot of snow
- Talvella on paljon lunta. = In winter there is a lot of snow.
Lumet is the plural (“the snows”), and is used less often. It can appear when you think of snow in separate areas or layers, or somewhat poetically:
- Lumet sulivat nopeasti. = The snows melted quickly.
- Pihan lumet on jo aurattu. = The snows in the yard have already been ploughed away.
In your sentence, lumi (singular) is correct and natural for “snow” as a general mass that covers the roof.
Yes, you can say:
- Talvella lumi peittää katon kokonaan.
This is perfectly grammatical. The grammar is the same:
- katon is still genitive, still a total object.
- The only change is in meaning: you no longer specify that the roof is grey.
So:
- Talvella lumi peittää harmaan katon kokonaan.
→ In winter the snow completely covers the grey roof. - Talvella lumi peittää katon kokonaan.
→ In winter the snow completely covers the roof (no colour mentioned).