Kirjoitin sanan väärin.

I wrote the word wrong.

Breakdown of Kirjoitin sanan väärin.

• minä: I
• kirjoittaa: to write
• sana: the word
• väärin: wrongly

Questions & Answers about Kirjoitin sanan väärin.

What does the verb kirjoitin tell us about the subject and the tense?

Kirjoitin is the past tense, 1st person singular of kirjoittaa (to write).

• kirjoitt- – verb stem “write”
• -i- – past tense marker
• -n – 1st person singular ending (“I”)

So kirjoitin already means “I wrote”. Because Finnish marks the person on the verb, you don’t need to say minä (I) unless you want to emphasize it (e.g. Minä kirjoitin sanan väärin, en sinä. – I wrote the word wrong, not you.).

Why is there no word for “I” in the sentence?

The subject “I” is included in the verb form kirjoitin. Finnish usually drops personal pronouns unless they are emphasized, because the verb ending shows who is doing the action.

• kirjoitan – I write
• kirjoitat – you (singular) write
• kirjoitti – he/she wrote
• kirjoitimme – we wrote

So Kirjoitin sanan väärin. by default means “I wrote the word wrong.” without needing minä.

Why is it kirjoitin and not something like kirjoittin?

It comes from regular Finnish conjugation patterns plus consonant gradation:

• Infinitive: kirjoittaa (to write)
• Stem: kirjoitta-
• In many personal forms, tt weakens to t (consonant gradation):
  • minä kirjoitan (I write)
  • minä kirjoitin (I wrote)

So kirjoitin can be analyzed as kirjoit- (weakened stem) + -i- (past) + -n (I). The double tt does not appear in this particular form because of gradation and how the stem is formed.

What case is sanan, and why is it used here?

Sanan is in the genitive singular of sana (word).

Finnish objects often appear in:

• Genitive (total object, action seen as complete)
• Partitive (partial object, or ongoing / incomplete / unbounded action)

In Kirjoitin sanan väärin, the idea is that you wrote the whole word, but incorrectly. That’s a completed event with a total object, so sanan (genitive) is used.

If you were focusing on an ongoing process (not finished), you might see the partitive sanaa, but that would sound odd in this specific “I wrote it wrong” meaning; here the normal, natural form is sanan.

Could it also be Kirjoitin sanaa väärin? What would that mean?

Kirjoitin sanaa väärin is grammatically possible but unusual, and it subtly changes the meaning.

• Kirjoitin sanan väärin – I wrote the word wrong (I completed the word, but it’s incorrect).
• Kirjoitin sanaa väärin – suggests an ongoing or incomplete action: “I was (in the process of) writing the word wrong.” It could be used in a narrative context, but it sounds a bit unnatural as a simple error report.

For a straightforward statement about having made a mistake in a word, Finns use sanan (genitive) almost always.

What exactly is väärin, and how is it related to väärä?

• väärä is an adjective: wrong, incorrect, false.
  • väärä sana – a wrong word
• väärin is an adverb: wrongly, incorrectly.
  • kirjoitin sanan väärin – I wrote the word incorrectly.

So in this sentence, väärin modifies the verb phrase (how the word was written), not the noun itself. You can think of it as “in a wrong way / incorrectly.”

Can I change the word order, like Kirjoitin väärin sanan?

The neutral, natural word order is Kirjoitin sanan väärin.

• Kirjoitin sanan väärin. – standard, neutral; “I wrote the word wrong.”

Kirjoitin väärin sanan is not wrong grammatically, but it sounds marked or awkward in most contexts. Finnish allows flexible word order, but shifting väärin earlier here usually adds emphasis or focus in a way that doesn’t feel natural.

You can move elements for emphasis, but good default choices are:

• Kirjoitin sanan väärin. – neutral.
• Sanan kirjoitin väärin. – “The word I wrote wrong (as opposed to something else).” Emphasis on sanan.

What’s the difference between “I wrote the word wrong” and “I wrote the wrong word” in Finnish?

These are two different ideas in Finnish:

1. I wrote the word wrong (spelling/formation is incorrect):

   • Kirjoitin sanan väärin.
   • The word itself is the intended word, but its form (spelling, inflection) is wrong.

2. I wrote the wrong word (I chose the wrong word altogether):

   • Kirjoitin väärän sanan.
   • väärän is the genitive of the adjective väärä (“wrong”), modifying sanan.
   • This means the choice of word was wrong, not necessarily the spelling.

So:

• sanan väärin – wrong how you wrote it.
• väärän sanan – wrong which word you wrote.

How would I say this in the present tense, like “I am writing / I write the word wrong”?

Use the present tense of kirjoittaa:

• Kirjoitan sanan väärin.

Finnish present tense often covers both English simple present and present continuous, so this can mean:

• “I write the word wrong.”
• “I am writing the word wrong (now).”

Context tells which one is intended; Finnish doesn’t have a separate -ing form like English.

How would I say “I wrote the words wrong” (plural) in Finnish?

You’d make sana plural and use the plural genitive:

• Kirjoitin sanat väärin. – I wrote the words wrong.

Breakdown:

• kirjoitin – I wrote
• sanat – the words (nominative plural form used as total object here)
• väärin – incorrectly

With multiple separate words you got wrong, Kirjoitin sanat väärin is the normal way to say it. (Another, more explicit option is Kirjoitin ne sanat väärin – “I wrote those words wrong.”)

How can I add more emphasis, like “I did write the word wrong”?

In Finnish, emphasis is usually done by word order and sometimes by adding the pronoun:

• Minä kirjoitin sanan väärin. – I (not someone else) wrote the word wrong.
• Sanan minä kirjoitin väärin. – It was the word that I wrote wrong (contrasting with maybe a sentence or something else).
• Kirjoitin sen sanan väärin. – I wrote that word wrong (emphasizing that specific word).

There is no separate “did” auxiliary like in English, so you use pronouns and word order for emphasis instead.