Mä tykkään siitä, että kirpputorilla voi jutella myyjien kanssa ja ne kertovat vaatteiden tarinoita.

I like that at the flea market you can chat with the sellers and they tell the stories of the clothes.

Breakdown of Mä tykkään siitä, että kirpputorilla voi jutella myyjien kanssa ja ne kertovat vaatteiden tarinoita.

• ja: and
• voida: can
• kertoa: to tell
• kanssa: with
• että: that
• tarina: the story
• ne: they
• jutella: to chat
• -lla: at
• tykätä: to like
• siitä: about that
• kirpputori: the flea market
• vaate: the garment
• mä: I
• myyjä: the seller

Questions & Answers about Mä tykkään siitä, että kirpputorilla voi jutella myyjien kanssa ja ne kertovat vaatteiden tarinoita.

What is Mä? Is it different from Minä?

Mä is the common spoken (colloquial) form of minä (I).

• Minä tykkään = standard / written Finnish
• Mä tykkään = everyday spoken Finnish

In informal speech almost everyone says mä, but in formal writing or exams you should use minä.

Why is it tykkään siitä and not just tykkään se?

The verb tykätä (to like) normally takes the elative case (-sta/‑stä) in Finnish.

• tykätä + elative:
  
  • Tykkään siitä. = I like it / that.
  • Tykkään suklaasta. = I like chocolate.

So:

• se (basic form) → siitä (elative form: from that / about that)
• You cannot say tykkään se; it must be tykkään siitä.

What does the structure siitä, että … do here?

Siitä, että … is a very common way to say I like that… / I’m happy that… etc.

The pattern is:

• Verb + siitä, että
  • full clause

In this sentence:

• Mä tykkään siitä, että kirpputorilla voi jutella…
  = I like it that / I like the fact that at the flea market you can chat…

Siitä is a pronoun referring forward to the whole että-clause.
Literally: I like from-that, that at the flea market one can chat…

Why is there a comma before että?

Finnish punctuation rules require a comma before most että-clauses, because että introduces a subordinate clause.

So:

• Mä tykkään siitä, että …
  main clause: Mä tykkään siitä
  subordinate clause: että kirpputorilla voi jutella…

Even when English wouldn’t always use a comma, Finnish usually does here.

What does kirpputorilla mean, and why does it end with -lla?

• kirpputori = flea market
• kirpputorilla = at the flea market

The ending -lla / -llä marks a location on / at something (adessive case).

Examples:

• pöytä → pöydällä = on the table
• asema → asemalla = at the station
• kirpputori → kirpputorilla = at the flea market

So kirpputorilla voi jutella… = at the flea market one can chat…

Who is the subject of voi jutella? Why is there no hän or ihmiset?

Here voi jutella uses the impersonal / generic construction:

• (X) voi tehdä jotain = one can do something / you can do something (in general)

There is no explicit subject; it means:

• Kirpputorilla voi jutella myyjien kanssa
  ≈ At the flea market you can chat with the sellers (people generally can).

This is very common in Finnish when talking about what is generally possible.

What is the nuance of jutella compared to puhua?

Both relate to speaking, but:

• puhua = to speak, to talk (neutral, also for languages)
  
  • Puhun suomea. = I speak Finnish.
• jutella = to chat, to have a casual conversation (more informal, relaxed)
  
  • Jutellaan vähän. = Let’s have a little chat.

So voi jutella myyjien kanssa emphasizes friendly, informal chatting with the sellers.

Why is it myyjien kanssa and not something like myyjät kanssa?

The postposition kanssa (with) requires the genitive case before it.

• myyjä = seller
• myyjien = genitive plural = of the sellers
• myyjien kanssa = with the sellers

Pattern:

• ystävä → ystävän kanssa = with a friend
• lapset → lasten kanssa = with the children
• myyjät → myyjien kanssa = with the sellers

Why is ne used for people? I thought it should be he.

You are right according to standard Finnish:

• he = they (for people)
• ne = they / those (for things)

But in spoken Finnish, people very often use:

• se instead of hän (he / she)
• ne instead of he (they)

So in colloquial speech:

• Ne kertovat vaatteiden tarinoita.
  = He kertovat vaatteiden tarinoita. (standard)
  = They tell the stories of the clothes.

In formal writing, use hän / he. In everyday speech, you will constantly hear se / ne for people.

What does kertovat mean and how is it formed?

Kertovat is the they form of the verb kertoa (to tell).

• Verb: kertoa = to tell
• Stem: kerto-
• 3rd person plural: he kertovat / ne kertovat = they tell

Other forms for comparison:

• minä kerron = I tell
• sinä kerrot = you (sg) tell
• hän kertoo = he / she tells
• me kerromme = we tell
• te kerrotte = you (pl) tell
• he kertovat = they tell

Why is it vaatteiden tarinoita, with vaatteiden and tarinoita in different cases?

Two parts:

1. vaatteiden

   • vaate = piece of clothing, garment
   • vaate → vaatteiden = genitive plural = of the clothes
   • This shows possession / relation: stories *of the clothes*.

2. tarinoita

   • tarina = story
   • tarinoita = partitive plural
   • As the object of kertoa here, the partitive plural is used for an indefinite plural: stories (some stories, not a fixed set).

So:

• vaatteiden tarinoita ≈ stories of the clothes / the clothes’ stories in an indefinite sense.

Could you also say vaatteiden tarinat instead of vaatteiden tarinoita? What would change?

Yes, you can say vaatteiden tarinat, but the nuance changes:

• vaatteiden tarinoita (partitive plural)
  → focuses on some stories, stories in general, not a complete, fixed set.

• vaatteiden tarinat (nominative plural)
  → sounds more like the specific stories of the clothes, the whole set of them.

In this sentence, tarinoita fits better because we’re talking about the sellers telling various stories in a general, non-limited way.

Why is the word order myyjien kanssa ja ne kertovat… instead of keeping myyjät as the subject?

The structure is:

• …voi jutella myyjien kanssa ja ne kertovat…

So:

• In the first part, myyjien kanssa = with the sellers (a companion, not a subject).
• In the second part, ne refers back to those sellers and is the subject: and they tell…

In more standard written style you might see:

• …voi jutella myyjien kanssa, ja he kertovat vaatteiden tarinoita.

Repeating the noun as subject would be possible but clumsy:

• …voi jutella myyjien kanssa ja myyjät kertovat…
  (grammatical, but less natural than using he / ne here)