Hammaslääkäri sanoi, että kaikki on kunnossa.

The dentist said that everything is fine.

Breakdown of Hammaslääkäri sanoi, että kaikki on kunnossa.

• olla: to be
• että: that
• sanoa: to say
• kaikki: everything
• hammaslääkäri: the dentist
• kunnossa: in order

Questions & Answers about Hammaslääkäri sanoi, että kaikki on kunnossa.

What does Hammaslääkäri literally mean, and is it one word or two?

Hammaslääkäri is one compound word.

• hammas = tooth
• lääkäri = doctor

So hammaslääkäri literally means “tooth doctor”, i.e. dentist. In Finnish it’s written as one word, not hammas lääkäri.

How do you pronounce Hammaslääkäri?

Roughly, you can pronounce it as:

HAM-mas-lää-kä-ri

• Stress is always on the first syllable in Finnish: HAM.
• Double consonants (mm, ss) are held slightly longer: ham-mas.
• ää is a long vowel, like a in cat but longer.
• r is a tapped or trilled r.
• Each written vowel is clearly pronounced; there are no silent letters.

Why is it sanoi and not sanoo?

Both come from the verb sanoa (“to say”).

• sanoi = 3rd person singular past tense (“(he/she) said”)
• sanoo = 3rd person singular present tense (“(he/she) says” / “is saying”)

In Hammaslääkäri sanoi, että…, we are talking about something the dentist said in the past, so Finnish uses sanoi.

What is the function of että in this sentence?

että is a subordinating conjunction meaning “that” (for reported speech and other subordinate clauses).

So the structure is:

• Hammaslääkäri sanoi = “The dentist said”
• että kaikki on kunnossa = “that everything is fine”

Together: “The dentist said that everything is fine.”

Why is there a comma before että?

In Finnish, a comma is normally placed before a subordinate clause introduced by conjunctions like että, koska, jotta, etc.

So:

• Hammaslääkäri sanoi, että kaikki on kunnossa.

The comma marks the boundary between the main clause (Hammaslääkäri sanoi) and the subordinate clause (että kaikki on kunnossa). It is required in standard written Finnish.

Why is it kaikki on (present tense) and not kaikki oli (past tense), even though sanoi is past?

Finnish does not use “backshifted” tenses in the same automatic way English often does.

Here:

• sanoi = past (“said”)
• on = present (“is”)

että kaikki on kunnossa is understood as the content of what was said, typically still valid now:
“The dentist said that everything is fine (now / in general).”

If you say:

• Hammaslääkäri sanoi, että kaikki oli kunnossa.

then it means “The dentist said that everything was fine (at that time),” implying a past state, which may or may not still be true.

What exactly does kaikki mean here?

kaikki is a pronoun that can mean:

• everything
• everyone
• all

In että kaikki on kunnossa, it usually means “everything is in order / everything is fine” (e.g. your teeth, X-rays, etc.).
Context decides whether it’s “everything” or “everyone”, but with a dentist it almost always means everything (about your teeth/health).

What is kunnossa? Is it an adjective or something else?

kunnossa is the adessive case (ending -ssa) of the noun kunto (“condition”, “shape”, “form”), used in a fixed expression:

• olla kunnossa = “to be in good condition”, “to be okay”, “to be in order”

So:

• kaikki on kunnossa = “everything is in good condition / everything is okay”

Grammatically:

• kaikki = subject
• on = verb “is”
• kunnossa = a predicative expression (literally “in (good) condition”)

Why is it kaikki on kunnossa and not something like kaikki on hyvä?

You can say kaikki on hyvin (“everything is well”), but:

• kaikki on kunnossa is the standard idiom for “everything is fine / in order / there is no problem.”
• kaikki on hyvä is not idiomatic in this meaning and sounds off.

So in this context, olla kunnossa is the natural choice.

Could you leave out että and just say: Hammaslääkäri sanoi, kaikki on kunnossa?

No, not in standard Finnish. You need että to introduce the clause that gives the content of what was said.

Correct options:

• Hammaslääkäri sanoi, että kaikki on kunnossa. (indirect speech)
• Hammaslääkäri sanoi: “Kaikki on kunnossa.” (direct speech, with colon and quotation marks)

Without että, the version with just a comma is considered incorrect or at least non‑standard.

Is että here like the English relative pronoun “that”, or something else?

It corresponds to the English “that” which introduces a that-clause:

• “He said that everything is fine.”

So it is a conjunction, not a relative pronoun (like “the book that I read”).
It just links the main clause to the content clause (reported speech).

Could this sentence also mean “The dentist said that everyone is fine”?

Yes, in theory. kaikki can mean both “everything” and “everyone”.

• In a typical dentist context (talking about your teeth, X-ray, treatment), kaikki will be understood as “everything (about your teeth/health)”.
• In a different context (e.g. you asked about your family members who are being treated), kaikki on kunnossa could be understood as “everyone is fine.”

Finnish relies heavily on context to disambiguate kaikki.

Is the word order Hammaslääkäri sanoi fixed, or could I say Sanoi hammaslääkäri?

The neutral word order is:

• Hammaslääkäri sanoi, että… (subject–verb)

You can say:

• Sanoi hammaslääkäri, että…

but then it sounds more stylistic/literary, often after quoting something:

• “Kaikki on kunnossa”, sanoi hammaslääkäri.

So for a basic, neutral sentence, learn and use:

• Hammaslääkäri sanoi, että kaikki on kunnossa.

What case is Hammaslääkäri in here, and why doesn’t it have any ending?

Hammaslääkäri is in the nominative singular form, which is the “dictionary form.”

• As the subject of the sentence, it normally appears in the nominative and does not take a case ending.

Examples of other cases for comparison:

• Menin hammaslääkärille. = I went to the dentist. (allative, -lle)
• Olin hammaslääkärissä. = I was at the dentist’s. (inessive, -ssä)

Is olla kunnossa always positive, like “good”, or can it just mean “not broken”?

olla kunnossa mainly means:

• “to be in order”
• “to be okay”
• “to be in working / acceptable condition”

So it usually indicates:

• There is no problem, nothing wrong.
• It doesn’t necessarily mean “excellent”, just that everything is functioning / acceptable / not broken.

In this sentence, it means the dentist found no issues: your teeth (or treatment, X-ray, etc.) are okay / in order.