Learn Hardcore Finnish: Maalaan vanhan aidan valkoiseksi, jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä. - I paint the old fence white so that the garden looks tidy.

Maalaan vanhan aidan… = I’m (the one who) will paint the old fence…
Minä maalaan vanhan aidan… = I (as opposed to someone else) will paint the old fence…

Both are grammatically correct; the version without minä is just more typical in neutral sentences. The tense is “present”, but in Finnish the present often covers both present time and near future (I will paint).

Why is it vanhan aidan and not simply vanha aita?

Vanhan aidan is the combination of:

vanha → vanhan (genitive singular: of the old)
aita → aidan (genitive singular: of the fence / the fence as a whole object)

Two things are going on:

Object case (aidan)
Finnish marks a total object (a whole, completed thing) in the genitive singular after a personal, finite verb.
- Maalaan aidan. = I (will) paint the fence (completely).
- Maalaan aitaa. = I am painting (some/the) fence (ongoing, not necessarily finished, or only part of it).
Here, the meaning is that you intend to finish painting the whole fence, so aidan is in the genitive singular as a total object.
Adjective agreement (vanhan)
Adjectives agree in case and number with the noun they describe. Since aita is in the genitive singular (aidan), vanha must also appear in the genitive singular: vanhan.

So vanhan aidan literally is “the old fence” in genitive singular, functioning as a total object: I paint the old fence (completely).

Why is valkoinen in the form valkoiseksi?

Valkoiseksi is the translative case form of valkoinen (white).

The translative ending is -ksi, and it is often used to show a change of state, role, or result:

maalata jokin valkoiseksi = to paint something (so that it becomes) white
tulla opettajaksi = to become a teacher
valita hänet puheenjohtajaksi = to choose him/her as chairperson

In this sentence:

Maalaan vanhan aidan valkoiseksi…
= I paint the old fence *to (the state of) white…
→ in natural English: I paint the old fence **white…*

The key idea: valkoiseksi expresses the resulting state of the fence after the painting.

What is the difference between Maalaan aidan and Maalaan aitaa?

Both use aita (fence) as the object, but the case changes the meaning:

Maalaan aidan.
- aidan = genitive singular → total object
- The action is directed at the whole fence, with a sense of completion.
- Often translates as I will paint the (entire) fence.
Maalaan aitaa.
- aitaa = partitive singular → partial object / ongoing or incomplete
- You are painting “fence” in general, or part of a fence; the action is not framed as completed.
- Often translates as I am painting (the) fence or I’m doing some fence-painting.

In the given sentence, vanhan aidan (genitive) fits the idea that the whole old fence will be painted.

What exactly does jotta mean, and how is it different from että?

Jotta is a subordinating conjunction that introduces a purpose or goal clause. It usually means “so that / in order that”.

In the sentence:

…, jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä.
= … so that the garden looks tidy.

Että is more neutral and usually means “that” for reported speech or content clauses:

Sanoin, että tulen huomenna. = I said that I’ll come tomorrow.

You cannot normally replace jotta with että in a purpose clause:

Maalaan aidan, jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä. ✔
Maalaan aidan, että puutarha näyttää siistiltä. ✖ (ungrammatical or at least very unnatural in standard Finnish)

So here jotta explicitly introduces the purpose: the reason for painting is to make the garden look tidy.

Why is näyttää in the present tense after jotta and not something like a future form?

Finnish does not have a separate future tense. The present tense (here näyttää) is used for:

Present time
General truths
Near future / expected result

In English, you might translate:

…, jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä.
as
- … so that the garden looks tidy. or
- … so that the garden will look tidy.

Finnish still uses the plain present tense näyttää in both cases. There is no change in verb form for future.

Why does siisti become siistiltä, and what does the ending -ltä mean?

Siistiltä is the ablative case form of the adjective siisti (tidy, neat).

The ablative ending is -lta / -ltä and often means “from (the surface of) / from the area of”. But with certain verbs of perception/appearance, the ablative has a special function:

näyttää joltakin = to look / seem like something
tuntua joltakin = to feel like something

Structurally:

puutarha näyttää siistiltä
= the garden looks (as if) from the tidy state
→ natural English: the garden looks tidy.

So the pattern is:

Noun in nominative + näyttää + adjective in ablative (-lta/-ltä)
- Hän näyttää väsyneeltä. = He/she looks tired.
- Ruoka näyttää hyvältä. = The food looks good.
- Puutarha näyttää siistiltä. = The garden looks tidy.

The stem of siisti doubles the t before the ending, giving siistiltä.

Why is puutarha in the basic form (nominative) and not in some other case?

Puutarha (garden) is the subject of the verb näyttää (to look / seem).

In a simple clause, the subject in Finnish is normally in the nominative:

Puutarha näyttää siistiltä.
- puutarha = subject (nominative)
- näyttää = verb
- siistiltä = predicative (in ablative, because of the verb näyttää)

Nothing in the clause requires puutarha to be in any other case, so it stays in the nominative.

Can the word order of the sentence be changed, and if so, what changes are natural?

Yes, Finnish word order is relatively flexible, especially between the main clause and the purpose clause.

Some natural variations:

Swap the order of clauses:
- Maalaan vanhan aidan valkoiseksi, jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä.
- Jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä, maalaan vanhan aidan valkoiseksi.
Within the main clause, some rearrangements are possible, though the original is the most neutral:
- Maalaan valkoiseksi vanhan aidan, jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä.
- Vanhan aidan maalaan valkoiseksi, jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä. (emphasizes the old fence specifically)

The comma before jotta is required, because jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä is a subordinate clause.

Why is there a comma before jotta?

In Finnish punctuation, a comma is generally placed before a subordinate clause introduced by conjunctions such as jotta, että, koska, kun etc.

Maalaan vanhan aidan valkoiseksi, jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä.

Here:

Maalaan vanhan aidan valkoiseksi = main clause
jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä = subordinate purpose clause

The comma separates the main clause from the jotta-clause. This is standard written Finnish.

What stem changes are happening in valkoinen → valkoiseksi and siisti → siistiltä?

Both examples involve a typical stem change when certain endings are added:

valkoinen → valkoiseksi
- Base adjective: valkoinen (white)
- Many adjectives ending in -inen change to a stem in -is- or -se- when inflected.
- valkoinen → stem valkois- / valkose-
- Add translative -ksi → valkoiseksi
So valkoinen
- -ksi (translative) → valkoiseksi (to white / into white).
siisti → siistiltä
- Base adjective: siisti (tidy, neat)
- For many words ending in -ti, the t doubles before certain consonant-initial endings.
- siisti → stem siistit- / siist-
- Add ablative -lta → siistiltä
So siisti
- -lta (ablative) → siistiltä (from tidy → looking tidy with näyttää).

These are regular-ish patterns, but they have to be learned word by word.

Could the sentence use a conditional like näyttäisi instead of näyttää, and what would that mean?

You might see a conditional form in some similar contexts, but it slightly changes the nuance.

…, jotta puutarha näyttää siistiltä.
= … so that the garden looks tidy. (neutral statement of purpose/result)

A conditional would be:

…, jotta puutarha näyttäisi siistiltä.

This can sound more hypothetical or polite, and often fits better in sentences with another conditional or a more tentative tone (e.g. jos tekisin X, jotta Y näyttäisi siistiltä).

In ordinary, straightforward purpose statements with a simple present in the main clause (maalaan), jotta … näyttää is the standard and most natural choice.