Jos budjetti pitää, voimme ehkä ensi vuonna vuokrata isomman kesämökin.

If the budget holds, we can perhaps next year rent a bigger summer cottage.

Breakdown of Jos budjetti pitää, voimme ehkä ensi vuonna vuokrata isomman kesämökin.

• voida: can
• jos: if
• pitää: to hold
• ensi vuonna: next year
• kesämökki: the summer cottage
• budjetti: the budget
• ehkä: perhaps
• vuokrata: to rent
• isompi: bigger

Questions & Answers about Jos budjetti pitää, voimme ehkä ensi vuonna vuokrata isomman kesämökin.

What does pitää mean in this sentence, and why is it used with budjetti?

In this sentence, pitää does not mean “to like” or “must,” which are other common meanings of pitää.

Here, budjetti pitää literally means “the budget holds.” Idiomatically, it means:

• “the budget works out”
• “the budget is sufficient”
• “we can stay within the budget”

So:

• Jos budjetti pitää ≈ “If the budget holds / If the budget is sufficient / If we stay on budget”

This is a fairly common Finnish expression with things like suunnitelma pitää (“the plan holds up”), aikataulu pitää (“the schedule holds”), etc.

Why is the verb in the present tense even though it’s about next year?

Finnish generally does not have a separate grammatical future tense. Instead, it uses the present tense to talk about future events, and the time is understood from context words like huomenna (tomorrow), ensi vuonna (next year), etc.

• voimme vuokrata literally: “we can rent”
• with ensi vuonna: “we can rent next year”

So:

• voimme ensi vuonna vuokrata = “we can (will be able to) rent next year”

The future meaning comes from ensi vuonna, not from a special future verb form.

Why is there a comma after pitää: “Jos budjetti pitää, voimme…”?

In Finnish, when a clause starting with jos (“if”) comes first, it is usually followed by a comma.

• Jos budjetti pitää, voimme…
• Voimme vuokrata isomman kesämökin, jos budjetti pitää.

So the pattern is:

• Subordinate clause (with jos) + comma + main clause.

This is basically a punctuation rule: introductory jos-clauses are separated from the main clause by a comma.

What exactly is the nuance of budjetti pitää versus something like budjetti riittää?

Both can appear in similar contexts, but they have slightly different flavors:

• budjetti pitää

  • literally “the budget holds”
  • often suggests that the figures and assumptions stay valid: costs don’t exceed what was planned, the budget remains realistic.

• budjetti riittää

  • literally “the budget is enough”
  • emphasizes sufficiency: there is enough money for what you want to do.

In this sentence:

• Jos budjetti pitää, voimme ehkä ensi vuonna vuokrata isomman kesämökin.
  = If our budgeting works out / stays on track, then we (might) be able to rent a bigger cottage.

You could also say:

• Jos budjetti riittää, voimme ehkä…
  = If the budget is enough, we can maybe…

Both are acceptable; pitää sounds a bit more like “our budget plan survives reality.”

Why is it voimme vuokrata and not something like vuokraamme?

Voimme is the 1st person plural of voida (“can, be able to”). When you use voida, it’s followed by the basic (first) infinitive of the main verb:

• voimme vuokrata = “we can rent”
• voin mennä = “I can go”
• voit ostaa = “you can buy”

So you get:

• voimme vuokrata isomman kesämökin
  = “we can rent a bigger summer cottage”

If you said vuokraamme isomman kesämökin, that would be:

• “we (will) rent a bigger summer cottage” (stating it more as a plan or decision, not as a possibility/ability)

Why is it voimme ehkä instead of ehkä voimme? Can you change the order?

Both orders are possible:

• Voimme ehkä ensi vuonna vuokrata…
• Ehkä voimme ensi vuonna vuokrata…

The difference is small and mostly about emphasis and style:

• Voimme ehkä…

  • Slightly emphasizes voimme (“we can”) first, then softens it with ehkä.
  • Feels like: “We can, maybe, next year rent…”

• Ehkä voimme…

  • Opens with ehkä (“maybe / perhaps”), clearly signaling uncertainty from the start.
  • Feels like: “Maybe we can next year rent…”

Both are natural. In everyday speech and writing, you will see both patterns; here voimme ehkä is perfectly normal.

Why is it isomman kesämökin and not isompi kesämökki?

Two things are happening here:

1. Case:

   • kesämökin is the genitive/accusative singular of kesämökki (“summer cottage”).
   • In a positive sentence with a whole, bounded object (“rent one whole cottage”), Finnish typically uses the accusative, which for many nouns looks like the -n genitive form.
   • So vuokrata kesämökin = “to rent (one specific) summer cottage.”

2. Adjective agreement:

   • The adjective must agree with the noun in case and number.
   • isompi is the basic (nominative) form meaning “bigger.”
   • To agree with kesämökin (accusative/genitive singular), it becomes isomman.

So:

• nominative: isompi kesämökki (“a bigger summer cottage”) – dictionary / basic form
• here: isomman kesämökin (“a bigger summer cottage” as a direct object of vuokrata)

Finnish translation still feels like “rent a bigger summer cottage,” but grammatically it needs the object in that -n form.

What case is ensi vuonna, and why is it used for time?

Vuonna is the inessive singular form of vuosi (“year”):

• vuosi → vuonna (“in the year”)

Ensi means “next (coming)” in a time sense. So:

• ensi vuonna literally: “in the next year”
• idiomatically: “next year”

Finnish very often uses inessive (in-forms: -ssa/-ssä, and for “year” the irregular -na/-nä) for time expressions:

• kesällä – “in (the) summer”
• talvella – “in (the) winter”
• viikolla – “in the week, during the week”
• vuonna 2020 – “in the year 2020”

So ensi vuonna is a standard, fixed way to say “next year.”

What’s the difference between ensi vuonna and seuraavana vuonna or tulevana vuonna?

All can be translated with “next year” in some contexts, but they’re not identical:

• ensi vuonna

  • “next year” from now (the coming year)
  • very common, neutral future time expression.

• seuraavana vuonna

  • literally “in the following year”
  • usually relative to some other time in a narrative:
    
    • Ensimmäisenä vuonna teimme tämän, ja seuraavana vuonna teimme sen.
      “In the first year we did this, and the following year we did that.”
  • less about “next from now,” more about “the next one in a sequence.”

• tulevana vuonna

  • literally “in the coming year”
  • a bit more formal or stylistic; can often be replaced by ensi vuonna in everyday speech.

In the example sentence, ensi vuonna is the natural choice: it’s just the ordinary “next year.”

What does kesämökki mean exactly? Is it just any cottage?

Kesämökki is a compound:

• kesä = summer
• mökki = cottage, cabin

So literally: “summer cottage.”

Culturally in Finland, kesämökki usually refers to:

• a separate cottage (often by a lake or in the countryside)
• used mainly in summer and for holidays/weekends
• can be simple (no running water, outdoor toilet, wood sauna) or more modern and equipped

So isompi kesämökki is not just a random bigger building; it evokes the Finnish idea of a holiday cottage where people go to relax in nature.

Could you also use the conditional voisimme instead of voimme here? What would change?

Yes, you could say:

• Jos budjetti pitää, voisimme ehkä ensi vuonna vuokrata isomman kesämökin.

The difference:

• voimme = “we can / will be able to”

  • more factual, more like a realistic plan: if X happens, then we can do Y.

• voisimme = conditional, “we could / we might be able to”

  • sounds more tentative, hypothetical, or polite:
    • considering possibilities
    • suggesting an idea rather than stating a plan

In English:

• voimme → “we can maybe rent…”
• voisimme → “we could maybe rent…”

Both are grammatically fine; voimme is more straightforwardly stating a possibility that depends on the budget.

Are there any important pronunciation or stress points in this sentence for an English speaker?

Key tips:

1. Stress

   • Always on the first syllable of each word:
     • JOS BUdjetti PIttää, VOimme EHKä ENSI VUonna VUOkrata ISomman KEsäMÖkin.

2. Double consonants and vowels matter

   • budjetti: double t – hold the /t/ slightly longer than in English.
   • pitää: long ää – keep the vowel long; it changes meaning if you shorten it.
   • isomman: double m – a slight “break” before /m/ compared to isoman (which would be wrong).

3. Vowel quality

   • ö in mökin is a front rounded vowel (like German ö, French eu).
   • Try to keep Finnish vowels pure and not diphthongized as in English.

4. Consonants at word boundaries

   • Say it fairly evenly and smoothly; Finnish rhythm is more syllable-timed than English, and each syllable gets a fairly clear vowel.