Learn Hardcore Finnish: Mitä enemmän kastelen kasvimaata kastelukannulla, sitä vihreämmältä kasvimaa näyttää ja multa pysyy tuoreena. - The more I water the vegetable patch with the watering can, the greener the vegetable patch looks and the soil stays fresh.

Mitä enemmän luen, sitä paremmin ymmärrän.
= The more I read, the better I understand.
Mitä vähemmän nukun, sitä väsyneempi olen.
= The less I sleep, the more tired I am.

You normally need both parts: mitä in the first clause and sitä in the second. They don’t translate directly word‑for‑word; together they just signal this “the more … the more …” relationship.

Why is there no minä in kastelen? How do we know it means “I water”?

In Finnish, the personal ending on the verb usually makes the subject pronoun unnecessary.

kastelen = I water (1st person singular, present)
kastelet = you (sg) water
kastelee = he/she/it waters
kastelemme = we water
kastelette = you (pl) water
kastelevat = they water

Because the -n ending clearly marks 1st person singular, minä is normally dropped unless you want to emphasize it:

Kastelen kasvimaata. = I water the vegetable garden.
Minä kastelen kasvimaata. = I water the vegetable garden (not someone else / in contrast to others).

So in Mitä enemmän kastelen…, the verb form alone already tells you it is “I water”.

Why is it kasvimaata in kastelen kasvimaata, but kasvimaa in kasvimaa näyttää?

You are seeing two different grammatical roles and cases:

kastelen kasvimaata
- kastelen = I water
- kasvimaata = partitive singular of kasvimaa
Here kasvimaa is the object of the verb kastella.
The partitive (kasvimaata) is used because:
- The watering is not presented as a single, completed action on the whole garden, but as an ongoing / repeated / not‑fully‑bounded activity.
- Finnish often uses the partitive object when the action is incomplete, ongoing, habitual, or affects an indefinite amount.
Roughly: “I (habitually / to some extent) water the vegetable garden.”
If you really wanted to emphasize the whole garden as a complete object, you could say:
- Kastelen kasvimaan.
  = I will (fully) water the entire vegetable garden.
kasvimaa näyttää
- kasvimaa is now the subject of the verb näyttää (to look, seem).
- Subjects are normally in the nominative form, so it’s just kasvimaa, not kasvimaata.

So:

As an object of an ongoing action → kasvimaata (partitive).
As the subject of “looks (green)” → kasvimaa (nominative).

What case is kastelukannulla, and why does it mean “with a watering can”?

kastelukannulla is in the adessive case (ending -lla / -llä).

Basic functions of the adessive include:

Location: on / at / by
- pöydällä = on the table
- asemalla = at the station
Instrument / means: with / using / by means of
This is what we have here:
- kastelukannu = watering can
- kastelukannulla = with a watering can, using a watering can

Other examples of the instrumental use:

Kirjoitan kynällä. = I write with a pen.
Leikkaan veitsellä. = I cut with a knife.

So kastelen kasvimaata kastelukannulla literally means “I water the vegetable garden using a watering can.”

What exactly does multa mean, and how is it different from maa or kasvimaa?

multa
- Means soil, earth, potting soil – the loose, dark stuff plants grow in.
- In this context, it is the material you are watering so it stays moist and “fresh”.
maa
- A more general word: land, ground, soil, earth, country.
- Can mean the ground under your feet, land as territory, or soil in a general sense.
kasvimaa
- A compound: kasvi (plant) + maa (land) → kasvimaa = vegetable garden / vegetable patch / allotment.
- Refers to the area/plot where you grow plants, not to the soil material itself.

In the sentence:

kasvimaa = the garden plot as a place.
multa = the soil inside that plot.

So multa pysyy tuoreena means “the soil stays fresh (moist, good for plants).”

Why is it vihreämmältä and not just vihreämpi? What does the -ltä ending do here?

vihreämmältä is the ablative singular of the comparative adjective vihreämpi.

Breakdown:

Base adjective: vihreä = green
Comparative nominative: vihreämpi = greener
Comparative ablative: vihreämmältä

The -lta / -ltä ending is the ablative case, and with verbs like näyttää (to look, seem), tuntua (to feel, seem), kuulostaa (to sound), Finnish normally uses this ablative:

Se näyttää hyvältä. = It looks good.
Ruoka maistuu hyvältä. = The food tastes good.
Se tuntuu pahalta. = That feels bad.

So with a comparative:

Se näyttää vihreältä. = It looks green.
Se näyttää vihreämmältä. = It looks greener.

In the sentence, sitä vihreämmältä kasvimaa näyttää literally is like saying:

“by that much greener the garden looks” → “the greener the garden looks”.

So -ltä here is required by näyttää in this meaning (“to look, seem”), not optional decoration.

Does näyttää always mean “to show”? How does it work in kasvimaa näyttää (vihreämmältä)?

näyttää has two main uses:

to show (something to someone) – transitive
- Näytän sinulle kuvan. = I show you a picture.
  - Subject: minä (I)
  - Verb: näytän
  - Object: kuvan (picture)
  - Indirect object: sinulle (to you)
to look / to seem – intransitive with an adjective (often ablative)
- Kasvimaa näyttää vihreältä. = The garden looks green.
- Hän näyttää väsyneeltä. = He/She looks tired.

In your sentence, näyttää is in the second sense:

kasvimaa näyttää (sitä vihreämmältä)
= the vegetable garden looks (that much) greener

There is no object here; kasvimaa is the subject, and vihreämmältä describes its appearance.

Why is tuoreena in that form? What does this case (essive) express in multa pysyy tuoreena?

tuoreena is the essive case (ending -na / -nä) of the adjective tuore (“fresh”).

The essive is often used with verbs of being, remaining, becoming, living, acting as etc. to express a temporary state or role:

Olen opettajana. = I work / am (in the role of) a teacher.
Hän pysyi rauhallisena. = He/She stayed calm.
Lapsi kasvaa isona. (colloquial) = The child grows up big.

With pysyä (“to stay, remain”), the complement is typically in the essive:

vesi pysyy kylmänä = the water stays cold
ruoka pysyy lämpimänä = the food stays warm
multa pysyy tuoreena = the soil stays fresh (moist, in good condition)

So tuoreena tells you the state in which the soil remains.

Why is the word order sitä vihreämmältä kasvimaa näyttää? Could I also say kasvimaa näyttää sitä vihreämmältä?

Yes, you can also say:

Kasvimaa näyttää sitä vihreämmältä.

That is a more neutral word order: [subject] [verb] [complement].

Finnish has relatively flexible word order, and fronting elements can change the focus/emphasis rather than the basic meaning.

In:

sitä vihreämmältä kasvimaa näyttää

the phrase sitä vihreämmältä is put first for emphasis. It makes the degree of greenness (“that much greener”) more prominent, almost like:

“(It is) that much greener that the garden looks…”

So:

Kasvimaa näyttää sitä vihreämmältä. – neutral; stating a fact.
Sitä vihreämmältä kasvimaa näyttää. – puts stronger focus on how much greener it looks.

Both are grammatically correct and mean essentially the same thing in this context.

Is kastelen “I water” or “I am watering”? What tense/aspect does it have here?

Finnish present tense (here kastelen) covers several English uses:

simple present: I water
present continuous: I am watering
habitual / generic: I (generally) water

The exact English translation depends on context. In this sentence:

Mitä enemmän kastelen kasvimaata kastelukannulla…

the structure Mitä enemmän … sitä … usually describes a general rule or regular pattern. So kastelen here is best understood as habitual / generic present:

“The more I (tend to / generally) water the vegetable garden with a watering can, the greener it looks…”

If you wanted to talk about a specific past situation, you would change the tense:

Mitä enemmän kastelin kasvimaata, sitä vihreämmältä se näytti.
= The more I watered the garden, the greener it looked.

Why is there a comma before sitä vihreämmältä in this sentence?

The Finnish sentence is:

Mitä enemmän kastelen kasvimaata kastelukannulla, sitä vihreämmältä kasvimaa näyttää ja multa pysyy tuoreena.

The first part Mitä enemmän kastelen kasvimaata kastelukannulla is a subordinate comparative clause (“the more I water…”). The second part sitä vihreämmältä kasvimaa näyttää ja multa pysyy tuoreena is the main clause (“the greener the garden looks and the soil stays fresh”).

In Finnish, subordinate clauses are normally separated from the main clause by a comma, especially when they come first:

Kun sataa, pysyn kotona. = When it rains, I stay at home.
Jos syön liikaa, voin huonosti. = If I eat too much, I feel bad.
Mitä enemmän harjoittelen, sitä paremmaksi tulen. = The more I practise, the better I become.

So the comma here is doing the same job as in English:

“The more I water the garden with a watering can, the greener the garden looks and the soil stays fresh.”