Mä odotan sun vastausta.

I am waiting for your answer.

Breakdown of Mä odotan sun vastausta.

• odottaa: to wait for
• vastaus: the answer
• mä: I
• sun: your

Questions & Answers about Mä odotan sun vastausta.

What does Mä mean here, and how is it different from Minä?

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

• Minä odotan sun vastausta. – grammatically standard, more neutral/written.
• Mä odotan sun vastausta. – everyday spoken Finnish, informal/friendly.

They mean the same thing; the difference is mainly style and register, not meaning. You’ll hear mä constantly in speech.

Why is there no separate word for for as in “I am waiting for your answer”?

In Finnish, the verb odottaa already includes the idea of waiting for something. You don’t add a preposition:

• English: wait for an answer
• Finnish: odottaa vastausta

So:

• Mä odotan sun vastausta. = literally I wait your answer (partitive).
  Adding a separate word for for would be wrong here.

Why is the verb odotan and not odotan minä or something with mä attached?

Finnish verb forms already show the person, so you usually don’t need the subject pronoun:

• odotan = I wait / I am waiting (1st person singular)

You can say Minä odotan or Mä odotan to emphasize I (as opposed to someone else), but normally just odotan is enough and very natural.

In this sentence, Mä is kept for a casual, conversational feel, but grammatically Odotan sun vastausta is also correct.

Is odotan present tense, and does it mean both I wait and I am waiting?

Yes. Finnish doesn’t have a separate continuous/progressive tense. The simple present odotan can mean both:

• Mä odotan sun vastausta.
  
  • I wait for your answer. (general)
  • I am waiting for your answer. (right now / around this time)

The exact meaning is understood from context, not from the verb form.

What exactly does sun mean here, and why not sinun?

Sun here is the colloquial spoken form of the genitive sinun (your).

• sinun vastaus → sun vastaus (spoken)
• In this sentence: sun vastausta (because of the case ending on vastaus, see below).

So:

• Minä odotan sinun vastaustasi. – very standard/written.
• Mä odotan sun vastausta. – everyday spoken Finnish.

Sun is extremely common in speech; sinun sounds more formal or careful.

Why is it vastausta and not vastaus? What is that -ta ending?

Vastausta is the partitive case of vastaus (answer). Many verbs, including odottaa (to wait for), normally take their object in the partitive:

• odottaa + partitive → odotan vastausta

The partitive -a/-ä / -ta/-tä often appears when:

• The action is incomplete or ongoing (you are still waiting).
• The object is indefinite or not fully “bounded”.

So:

• vastaus (nominative) – an/the answer
• vastausta (partitive) – (an) answer as something not yet completed/received.

With odottaa, vastausta is the normal, correct form.

Could I say Mä odotan sun vastauksen instead of vastausta?

Not in this meaning.

• Mä odotan sun vastausta. – I am waiting for your answer. (correct, natural)
• Mä odotan sun vastauksen. – sounds wrong or at least very odd in this context.

Vastauksen is genitive case; it would suggest something like I await the completion of your answer in a very unusual, not really idiomatic way. With odottaa, you use the partitive vastausta when waiting for an answer.

Could I drop sun and just say Mä odotan vastausta?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:

• Mä odotan sun vastausta. – I’m waiting for your answer (specifically yours).
• Mä odotan vastausta. – I’m waiting for an answer (from someone, not specified).

Without sun (or a possessive suffix), it no longer clearly means your answer; it’s just an answer in general.

What would a very standard, neutral written version of this sentence be?

A common standard written form would use a possessive suffix instead of sun:

• Odotan vastaustasi. – I am waiting for your answer. (neutral, polite, written)

Here:

• odotan – I wait / am waiting
• vastaus – answer
• -ta – partitive
• -si – possessive suffix for your (singular)

So vastaustasi = your answer (as object of odottaa).

What if I want to be formal or address someone with polite you?

In formal written language to one person, you might use te (polite) and/or a possessive suffix:

• Odotan vastaustanne. – I am waiting for your answer. (formal to one person or to a group)

In spoken language to several people (informal plural you), you might hear:

• Mä odotan teidän vastausta. – I’m waiting for your (plural) answer. (colloquial)

But in careful, standard Finnish, the formal written version with suffix (vastaustanne) is more typical.

Can I change the word order, like Sun vastausta mä odotan?

Yes. Finnish word order is fairly flexible; changes in order usually affect emphasis, not core meaning.

• Mä odotan sun vastausta. – neutral, everyday order.
• Sun vastausta mä odotan. – emphasises your answer (for example: It’s *your answer I’m waiting for, not someone else’s*).

The verb typically stays near the beginning in very neutral sentences, but moving parts around for focus is common and grammatical.

Is Mä odotan sun vastausta appropriate in all situations?

It’s fine in informal contexts:

• Messages to friends, family, close colleagues.
• Casual spoken conversation.

It is not ideal for:

• Official emails
• Job applications, customer service, legal contexts, etc.

In those, use a more standard version, e.g.:

• Odotan vastaustanne. (formal/polite)
• Odotan vastaustasi. (neutral but still polite enough in many semi-formal contexts).

How is Mä odotan sun vastausta pronounced compared to how it’s written?

In casual speech, some sounds are weakened or run together. Roughly:

• Mä – like ma in map, short and light.
• odotan – O-do-tan, all vowels clearly pronounced.
• sun – like English soon but with a shorter u.
• vastausta – VAS-tau-sta
  
  • va as in vat
  • au like ow in now
  • stress always on the first syllable: VAS-taus-ta

Colloquial speech may slightly shorten or smooth vowels, but each written vowel is basically pronounced.