Nainen laulaa kauniisti.

The woman sings beautifully.

Breakdown of Nainen laulaa kauniisti.

• nainen: the woman
• laulaa: to sing
• kauniisti: beautifully

Questions & Answers about Nainen laulaa kauniisti.

What does each word in Nainen laulaa kauniisti correspond to, and what’s the overall meaning in English?

Word by word:

• Nainen = woman (nominative singular; subject of the sentence)
• laulaa = sings / is singing (3rd person singular present of laulaa “to sing”)
• kauniisti = beautifully (adverb)

Natural English translations:

• The woman sings beautifully.
• The woman is singing beautifully.

Finnish present tense can cover both simple present (sings) and present continuous (is singing); context decides which English form is best.

Why is there no word for the or a (like in English “the woman” or “a woman”)?

Finnish has no articles (no words corresponding directly to a/an or the).

• Nainen laulaa kauniisti can mean:
  • A woman sings beautifully.
  • The woman sings beautifully.

Context tells you whether it’s a or the. If you really want to specify “this particular woman”, you typically use demonstratives:

• Tämä nainen laulaa kauniisti. = This woman sings beautifully.
• Se nainen laulaa kauniisti. (colloquial; often “that woman”.)

How do I know that laulaa here means “sings / is singing” and not “to sing”?

Finnish dictionaries list verbs in the 1st infinitive form, which for this verb is also laulaa and translates as to sing.

Confusingly, the 3rd person singular present form is also laulaa:

• infinitive: laulaa = to sing
• 3rd sg present: (hän) laulaa = he/she sings / is singing

You know it’s a finite verb (“sings”) in this sentence because:

• It appears as the main verb of a complete sentence.
• There is a clear subject (nainen).
• No other finite verb is present.

If it were an infinitive, it would usually follow another verb:

• Hän haluaa laulaa. = She wants to sing.
  (haluaa is the finite verb; laulaa is infinitive.)

What does the -aa ending in laulaa tell me?

Here -aa is the verb ending showing 3rd person singular present (“he/she/it”). The full present tense of laulaa (to sing) is:

• minä laulan – I sing
• sinä laulat – you (sg) sing
• hän laulaa – he/she sings
• me laulamme – we sing
• te laulatte – you (pl) sing
• he laulavat – they sing

So, in Nainen laulaa kauniisti, laulaa agrees with the 3rd person singular subject nainen (“woman”).

Why isn’t there a pronoun like hän (“he/she”) in the sentence?

Finnish is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are usually omitted because the person and number are clear from the verb ending.

• Laulaa. (by itself) is ambiguous: he/she sings.
• Nainen laulaa. = The woman sings. (subject is clear from the noun nainen, so no pronoun is needed.)
• Hän laulaa. = He/She sings. (when a pronoun is needed for person/gender, or context.)

Pronouns like hän are used mainly:

• when there’s no other subject noun, or
• for emphasis or contrast.

You could say Hän laulaa kauniisti if “she” is already known from context, but with nainen explicitly mentioned, you don’t normally add hän as well.

How is kauniisti formed, and what is the relationship to kaunis?

Kaunis is an adjective: beautiful.
Kauniisti is an adverb: beautifully.

The typical pattern is:

• adjective + -sti → adverb

For kaunis:

1. Take the stem kauni- (drop the final -s).
2. Add -sti → kauniisti.

Other examples:

• nopea (fast) → nopeasti (quickly)
• hidas (slow) → hitaasti (slowly)
• varma (sure) → varmasti (surely / definitely)

So Nainen laulaa kauniisti literally uses the adverb beautifully, just like in English.

Can I change the word order, like Kauniisti nainen laulaa or Nainen kauniisti laulaa? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, Finnish word order is relatively flexible, but changes in order usually change emphasis or information structure, not the basic meaning.

• Nainen laulaa kauniisti.
  Neutral, default: The woman sings beautifully.

• Kauniisti nainen laulaa.
  Emphasizes how she sings:
  “Beautifully the woman sings” (focusing on the adverb; stylistic, poetic, or contrastive).

• Nainen kauniisti laulaa.
  Slight emphasis on nainen (the woman in particular sings beautifully), or just a slightly marked / stylistic order.

The standard neutral order in simple statements is Subject – Verb – (Adverbial/Object), so Nainen laulaa kauniisti is the most natural in isolation.

How do I pronounce Nainen laulaa kauniisti, especially the double vowels?

Pronunciation (broadly, using IPA):

• nainen → /ˈnɑi̯nen/
• laulaa → /ˈlɑu̯lɑː/
• kauniisti → /ˈkɑu̯niːsti/

Key points:

• ai, au, au, ui etc. are diphthongs: two vowel sounds that glide together in one syllable.
• Double vowels like aa, ii are long vowels. They must be held about twice as long as a single vowel.
  • laulaa: final -aa is long /ɑː/.
  • kauniisti: ii is long /iː/.

Length is important in Finnish and can change meaning, e.g.:

• tuli = fire / he came
• tuuli = wind

So be careful to lengthen the double vowels in laulaa and kauniisti.

What tense or aspect does laulaa express? Is it “sings” or “is singing”?

Finnish present tense covers both:

• simple present (sings), and
• present continuous (is singing).

So Nainen laulaa kauniisti can mean:

• The woman sings beautifully. (habitual: in general, she’s a beautiful singer.)
• The woman is singing beautifully. (right now.)

Only context will tell which is intended. Finnish doesn’t have a dedicated continuous tense form the way English does.

How would I say “The woman does not sing beautifully” in Finnish?

You use the Finnish negative verb ei plus a special “connegative” stem of the main verb:

• Nainen ei laula kauniisti.
  = The woman does not sing beautifully. / The woman is not singing beautifully.

Structure:

• nainen – subject
• ei – negative verb (3rd person singular form is ei)
• laula – connegative form of laulaa (no personal ending)
• kauniisti – adverb

Finnish forms negation with ei instead of using something like don’t / doesn’t.