Log inSign up

Säädän näyttöruudun valoa pienemmäksi ennen nukkumaanmenoa.

Säädän näyttöruudun valoa pienemmäksi ennen nukkumaanmenoa.
I adjust the brightness of the screen lower before going to sleep.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Finnish grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Finnish now

Questions & Answers about Säädän näyttöruudun valoa pienemmäksi ennen nukkumaanmenoa.

What does Säädän mean exactly, and why is there no word for “I” in the sentence?

Säädän is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb säätää = “to adjust, regulate, tune”.

  • säätää (dictionary form)
  • säädän = I adjust / I am adjusting

In Finnish, the personal ending on the verb (-n in säädän) already tells you the subject is I, so you normally leave out minä:

  • Säädän näyttöruudun valoa... = I adjust the screen’s light...
  • Minä säädän... is also correct, but it sounds more emphatic (like “I (as opposed to someone else) adjust ...”).

So the subject “I” is built into the verb form; that’s why you don’t see a separate pronoun.

What is the structure of näyttöruudun valoa and how does it translate literally?

näyttöruudun valoa breaks down like this:

  • näyttöruutu = display screen (literally “display + square/panel”)
  • näyttöruudun = genitive of näyttöruutu → “of the display screen”
  • valo = light
  • valoa = partitive of valo → “(some) light / brightness”

So näyttöruudun valoa is literally:

“(some) light of the display screen” → “the brightness of the screen”

The genitive näyttöruudun shows whose light it is, and the partitive valoa is used as the object because we’re adjusting an uncountable quantity (light/brightness), not a clearly bounded, countable thing.

Why is it valoa and not valo here?

Valoa is the partitive form of valo (“light”). Finnish often uses the partitive object in situations like this:

  1. Uncountable substances / quantities

    • Juo vettä. – Drink (some) water.
    • Säädän näyttöruudun valoa. – I adjust the screen’s light/brightness.

  2. Changing the quality/amount of something
    When you change the amount/degree of something rather than completely affecting or “finishing” it, partitive is typical:

    • Lisään sokeria. – I add (some) sugar.
    • Säädän valoa. – I adjust (the amount of) light.

Using valo (total object) would sound more like you do something to all of the light as a complete entity, which doesn’t fit well with “adjusting brightness” in a gradual/quantitative way. Valoa matches the idea of “adjusting the level/amount of light”.

What does pienemmäksi mean, and what is this -ksi ending?

pienemmäksi comes from the adjective pieni (“small”).

  • pieni → comparative stem pienempi = “smaller”
  • pienemmäksi = translative case of pienempi → “into a smaller (state) / to be smaller / lower”

The -ksi ending is the translative case, which often means “into / to become / to a certain state or role”.

In this sentence:

  • Säädän näyttöruudun valoa pienemmäksi.
    = I adjust the light into a smaller (lower) level.

So pienemmäksi expresses the new state of the light after adjusting it.

Why is it pienemmäksi and not just pienempi?

Pienempi by itself is just the comparative adjective “smaller”.
Pienemmäksi adds the translative idea “to become / into smaller”.

Compare:

  • Valo on pienempi. – The light is smaller (already in that state).
  • Säädän valoa pienemmäksi. – I adjust the light to be smaller / to a smaller level.

Because the verb säätää here is about changing something into a new condition, Finnish regularly uses the translative -ksi after verbs expressing change of state:

  • Maalaan seinän valkoiseksi. – I paint the wall white (into a white state).
  • Leikkaan hiukset lyhyiksi. – I cut the hair short (into a short state).
  • Säädän valoa pienemmäksi. – I adjust the light lower (into a smaller state).

So pienemmäksi fits the pattern “do X to make Y become Z”.

What exactly is ennen nukkumaanmenoa doing grammatically, and why is nukkumaanmenoa in this form?

Ennen = “before” (a preposition). In Finnish, ennen always takes the partitive case.

The noun phrase following it is:

  • nukkua = to sleep
  • mennä nukkumaan = to go to sleep
    • nukkumaan is the illative -maan infinitive form used with movement verbs like mennä (go).
  • nukkumaanmeno = “going to sleep” (verb phrase turned into a noun)
  • nukkumaanmenoa = partitive of nukkumaanmeno (because of ennen)

So:

  • ennen nukkumaanmenoa = “before going to sleep”

Structure:

  • ennen (requires partitive)
  • nukkumaanmenoa (partitive of a noun derived from mennä nukkumaan)
Could I also write ennen nukkumaan menoa with a space?

Yes, you will see both:

  • ennen nukkumaanmenoa
  • ennen nukkumaan menoa

In modern standard Finnish, it’s increasingly common to write these as one word when the “verb + -maan/-mään + noun” forms a fixed expression (like nukkumaanmeno, syömäänmeno etc.).

Both spellings are understood. The compound form (nukkumaanmenoa) better reflects that the phrase “menna nukkumaan” has been turned into a single nominal concept, “going to sleep”.

Can I say this sentence in a simpler way, for example with näytön instead of näyttöruudun?

Yes. Some natural alternatives:

  1. Säädän näytön kirkkautta pienemmäksi ennen nukkumaanmenoa.

    • näytön = of the display/screen
    • kirkkaus = brightness; kirkkautta = partitive
      This is very natural because you adjust brightness in settings.

  2. Pienennän näytön kirkkautta ennen nukkumaanmenoa.

    • pienennän = I lower / make smaller
      Also common and maybe more straightforward.

  3. Himennän näytön valoa ennen nukkumaanmenoa.

    • himmentää = to dim

Your original sentence with näyttöruudun valoa is correct and understandable, but näytön kirkkautta is probably what you’d most often hear about device settings.

Why is there no preposition like “to” before pienemmäksi (as in “to smaller”)?

Finnish usually uses cases instead of prepositions. The -ksi ending on pienemmäksi already encodes the idea of “to/into” a certain state.

So instead of:

  • “adjust light to smaller” (English preposition)

Finnish does:

  • säädän valoa pienemmäksi
    (pienemmäksi = into smaller, to be smaller)

The case ending does the job that a separate word (preposition) does in English.

Could I move ennen nukkumaanmenoa to another part of the sentence?

Yes. Word order in Finnish is quite flexible, and this time expression can move without changing the basic meaning:

  • Ennen nukkumaanmenoa säädän näyttöruudun valoa pienemmäksi.
  • Säädän ennen nukkumaanmenoa näyttöruudun valoa pienemmäksi.

All are grammatical. The most neutral and typical is probably the original:

  • Säädän näyttöruudun valoa pienemmäksi ennen nukkumaanmenoa.

Placing ennen nukkumaanmenoa earlier can give it slightly more emphasis (“Before going to sleep, I adjust...”)

Why is nukkumaan used instead of nukkua in nukkumaanmeno?

It comes from the phrase mennä nukkumaan (“to go to sleep”), where:

  • nukkua = to sleep (basic infinitive)
  • nukkumaan = the illative -maan/-mään infinitive form used after movement verbs:
    • mennä nukkumaan – go to sleep
    • tulla nukkumaan – come to sleep

Then the whole verb phrase mennä nukkumaan (“to go to sleep”) is nominalized:

  • nukkumaanmeno – going to sleep
    (literally “going to-sleep”)

So nukkumaan is preserved inside that compound noun.

Is säätää used only for screens and light, or more generally?

Säätää is quite general. It means to adjust, tune, regulate, set. Some typical uses:

  • säätää äänenvoimakkuutta – adjust the volume
  • säätää lämpötilaa – adjust the temperature
  • säätää asetuksia – adjust settings
  • säätää jarruja – adjust brakes
  • säätää lakia – to legislate / enact a law (more formal meaning)

In your sentence, säätää valoa = “adjust the light/brightness” is a very natural use.