Hartia on kipeä tänään.

My shoulder is sore today.

Breakdown of Hartia on kipeä tänään.

• olla: to be
• tänään: today
• kipeä: sore
• hartia: the shoulder

Questions & Answers about Hartia on kipeä tänään.

What exactly does hartia refer to? Is it the same as shoulder in English?

Hartia usually refers to the upper back / shoulder area, especially the part across the back between the neck and the arms (the “shoulder girdle”).

In everyday speech:

• hartia = the area around the shoulder blade and upper back
• olkapää = the joint of the shoulder (literally “shoulder head”)

In many contexts, when you say Hartia on kipeä, people will understand it as “my shoulder / shoulder area is sore,” even if it’s not exactly the ball-and-socket joint.

Why is hartia singular? In English I’d usually say “My shoulders are sore.”

Finnish can use either singular or plural here, depending on what you mean:

• Hartia on kipeä. – One shoulder / one side / the shoulder area is sore.
• Hartiat ovat kipeät. – Both shoulders / the shoulder area on both sides is sore.

English often defaults to plural (my shoulders are sore) where Finnish might just describe one hartia or use the plural explicitly. The singular here is perfectly natural if you feel it more on one side, or you’re just talking about “the shoulder area” in a vague way.

Where is the word my in this sentence? Why doesn’t Finnish say “my shoulder”?

Finnish often omits possessive words with body parts when it’s clear from context whose body we’re talking about.

So:

• Hartia on kipeä tänään.
  Literally: “Shoulder is sore today.”
  Naturally understood as: “My shoulder is sore today,” if you’re talking about yourself.

If you really want to make the possessor explicit, you can say:

• Minun hartiani on kipeä tänään. – My shoulder is sore today.
• Oikea hartiani on kipeä. – My right shoulder is sore.

In everyday conversation, though, Hartia on kipeä almost always means my shoulder, if you’re speaking about your own condition.

Why is the verb on used and not olen? I thought olen means “am”.

On and olen are different forms of the verb olla (to be):

• olen = “I am” (1st person singular)
• on = “he/she/it is” or “there is” (3rd person singular)

In Hartia on kipeä tänään:

• The grammatical subject is hartia (the shoulder).
• So the verb must be 3rd person singular: on.

You only use olen when I am the subject:

• Minä olen kipeä. – I am sick / in pain.
• Hartia on kipeä. – The shoulder is sore.

Why is kipeä in that basic form? Should it agree in some way with hartia?

Yes, kipeä does agree with hartia, and that’s exactly what’s happening here.

In sentences like X on Y where Y is an adjective (called a predicative), the adjective normally matches the subject in number and case:

• Hartia on kipeä.
  
  • hartia = singular nominative
  • kipeä = singular nominative
• Hartiat ovat kipeät.
  
  • hartiat = plural nominative
  • kipeät = plural nominative

So kipeä is in the “basic” dictionary form because the subject hartia is in basic singular nominative. If you change the subject to plural, the adjective changes too: kipeät.

What is the difference between kipeä and sairas?

Both can relate to not feeling well, but they’re used differently:

• kipeä

  • Often about pain or soreness, especially in a body part.
  • Hartia on kipeä. – My shoulder is sore / hurts.
  • Kurkkuni on kipeä. – My throat is sore.

• sairas

  • More about being ill / sick in general, or having a disease.
  • Olen sairas. – I am ill.
  • Hän on vakavasti sairas. – He/She is seriously ill.

You could say:

• Olen sairas, ja hartia on kipeä.
  I’m sick, and my shoulder is sore.

Why say Hartia on kipeä instead of using a verb like “to hurt”, for example sattua?

Finnish has two common ways to talk about pain:

1. “Be sore” with an adjective

   • Hartia on kipeä. – My shoulder is sore.
   • More descriptive, like describing a state.

2. “Hurt” with a verb like sattua or särkeä

   • Hartiaani sattuu. – My shoulder hurts.
   • Hartiaa särkee. – My shoulder aches.

All are natural. Roughly:

• Hartia on kipeä. – neutral statement of condition.
• Hartiaani sattuu. – more like complaining about the pain “it hurts”.
• Hartiaa särkee. – aching, often more persistent or dull pain.

In everyday speech, Hartia on kipeä tänään is very common and sounds natural.

Can I change the word order, like Tänään hartia on kipeä? Does it change the meaning?

You can change the word order, and the basic meaning stays the same, but the emphasis shifts.

• Hartia on kipeä tänään.
  Neutral; emphasis is on the fact that the shoulder is sore, and we add “today” as extra information.

• Tänään hartia on kipeä.
  Emphasis on today, as in “Today (at least), the shoulder is sore.” This could contrast with other days:

  • Eilen se oli ihan kunnossa, mutta tänään hartia on kipeä.
    Yesterday it was fine, but today the shoulder is sore.

Both are correct; speakers choose word order to highlight what’s most important in that context.

What form is tänään? Why not just a basic word for “today”?

Tänään is the normal Finnish adverb meaning “today”. You don’t normally break it down when speaking; you just learn it as a whole word.

Grammar-wise, it comes from an old essive-type form (a case often used for times and states), but for practical learning purposes you can just treat:

• tänään = today
• eilen = yesterday
• huomenna = tomorrow

So Hartia on kipeä tänään simply uses tänään as a time adverbial: “(today) my shoulder is sore.”

How do you pronounce hartia on kipeä tänään?

Key points:

1. Stress is always on the first syllable of each word:
   HAR-tia on KI-pe-ä TÄ-nään.

2. Vowels:

   • a like in father (short).
   • i like in machine.
   • eä in kipeä: say e and ä clearly, almost like ke-pe-a (three syllables: ki-pe-ä).
   • ä like the a in cat, but a bit clearer and longer when doubled: tänään has a long ää.

3. Consonants:

   • h in hartia is pronounced, a light h at the start.
   • r is tapped or lightly trilled.

Spoken smoothly, it sounds like:

HAR-tia on KI-pe-ä TÄ-nään
with even rhythm and no particularly strong word-level stress beyond the first syllable of each word.