Minä poistan kuvan puhelimesta.

I remove the picture from the phone.

Breakdown of Minä poistan kuvan puhelimesta.

• minä: I
• puhelin: the phone
• -sta: from
• kuva: the picture
• poistaa: to remove

Questions & Answers about Minä poistan kuvan puhelimesta.

What is poistan exactly – its dictionary form, tense, and person?

Poistan is the 1st person singular present tense form of the verb poistaa.

• Dictionary form (infinitive): poistaa – to remove, to delete
• Person: 1st person singular (I)
• Tense: Present (also often used for near future)

So Minä poistan literally means I remove / I delete. Context tells you whether it is happening now or in the (near) future.

Why is the pronoun Minä used here? Can it be left out?

In Finnish, the personal pronoun is usually optional, because the verb ending already shows the person.

• Minä poistan kuvan puhelimesta.
• Poistan kuvan puhelimesta.

Both mean I delete the picture from the phone.

Adding minä often gives a nuance of emphasis or contrast, like:

• Minä poistan kuvan puhelimesta (implied: I will delete it, not someone else / I myself will do it).

Why is it kuvan and not kuva? What case is that?

Kuvan is the genitive singular form of kuva (picture, image).

In this sentence, kuvan is the object of the verb poistan. Finnish objects often appear in:

• Genitive (here: kuvan) for a complete, total object – the whole picture is deleted.
• Partitive (e.g. kuvaa / kuvia) for partial/ongoing or indefinite action.

Since you are deleting one specific picture completely, Finnish uses the genitive: kuvan.

How do I know when to use kuva, kuvan, or kuvaa as the object?

Very simplified:

• Kuvan (genitive) – total object, the whole thing is affected and the action is viewed as complete:

  • Poistan kuvan. – I delete the picture (one specific, fully deleted).
  • Ostin kuvan. – I bought the picture.

• Kuvaa (partitive singular) – partial / ongoing / atelic action, or uncertain completion:

  • Poistan kuvaa. – I am deleting (some of) the picture / in the process of deleting; sounds incomplete/odd unless context explains.
  • Piirrän kuvaa. – I am drawing a picture (ongoing activity).

• Kuva (nominative) doesn’t normally appear as a direct object with a personal subject; it appears as subject, dictionary form, etc. For a normal affirmative sentence like this, you’d not say Minä poistan kuva puhelimesta – it’s ungrammatical.

What does the ending -sta in puhelimesta mean?

Puhelimesta is the elative case of puhelin (phone).

• puhelin – phone (basic form)
• puhelimessa – in the phone (inside, in it)
• puhelimesta – from (inside) the phone

The elative -sta / -stä typically means from the inside of something, or from a place/source. Here it expresses from the phone, including digital content stored in it.

What is the difference between puhelimessa and puhelimesta?

• Puhelimessa – in the phone (inessive: -ssa / -ssä)

  • Kuva on puhelimessa. – The picture is in the phone.

• Puhelimesta – from the phone (elative: -sta / -stä)

  • Poistan kuvan puhelimesta. – I delete/remove the picture from the phone.

In this sentence, you’re removing the picture from the phone, so puhelimesta (elative) is required.

Can I change the word order, for example: Poistan kuvan puhelimesta or Poistan puhelimesta kuvan?

Yes. Finnish word order is relatively flexible, and all of these are grammatical:

• Minä poistan kuvan puhelimesta.
• Poistan kuvan puhelimesta.
• Poistan puhelimesta kuvan.

They all can mean the same thing, but the focus/emphasis can shift slightly:

• Poistan kuvan puhelimesta. – neutral; new information is typically the verb + object.
• Poistan puhelimesta kuvan. – can put a bit more focus on kuvan, as if clarifying what exactly from the phone.

However, the original sentence is the most typical neutral order: (Minä) poistan kuvan puhelimesta.

Does this sentence mean “I delete”, “I am deleting”, or “I will delete”?

Finnish has one present tense form that covers all of these English meanings. Poistan can mean:

• I delete / I remove (habitual or general)
• I am deleting / I am removing (right now)
• I will delete / I’m going to delete (future, if context shows it’s about the future)

So Minä poistan kuvan puhelimesta can be:

• I’m deleting the picture from the phone (now).
• I’ll delete the picture from the phone (later).

Context or extra words (like huomenna – tomorrow, nyt – now) specify the time if needed.

How would I say I delete pictures from the phone (plural)?

You’d typically use the partitive plural for “pictures” when talking about an indefinite number / repeated action:

• Poistan kuvia puhelimesta. – I delete pictures from the phone.
  
  • kuvia = partitive plural of kuva

This suggests you are deleting some pictures (not necessarily all), maybe as a regular activity.

If you mean all the pictures from the phone, you can use the “total” plural object:

• Poistan kuvat puhelimesta. – I delete the pictures (all of them, a specific set) from the phone.

How do I say I delete the picture from my phone?

You have two common options:

1. Using a possessive suffix (more compact, quite natural):

   • Poistan kuvan puhelimestani.
     
     • puhelimestani = from my phone (puhelimesta
       • -ni “my”)

2. Using a separate possessive pronoun:

   • Poistan kuvan minun puhelimesta(ni).
     
     • With minun, you can add or omit the suffix -ni, but puhelimestani is the most standard form.

The version with the possessive suffix alone (puhelimestani) is often enough, because -ni already means my.

What is the difference between poistaa and poistua? They look similar.

They are related but different:

• poistaa – to remove, to delete (transitive: you remove something)

  • Poistan kuvan puhelimesta. – I remove/delete the picture from the phone.

• poistua – to leave, to exit, to go away (intransitive: a person or thing goes away)

  • Hän poistuu huoneesta. – He/She leaves the room.
  • Ohjelma poistuu. – The program exits.

So in this sentence you must use poistaa, because you are removing an object (kuvan).

Does kuva mean specifically a “photo”, or can it be other kinds of images too?

Kuva is a general word for picture / image, and it can refer to:

• a photo (on your phone, camera, etc.)
• a drawing, painting, illustration
• an image on a screen
• even a mental image (in some contexts)

In everyday phone/computer contexts, kuva is very often understood as a photo / image file, so Minä poistan kuvan puhelimesta is naturally interpreted as deleting a photo or image from the phone.