Learn Hardcore Finnish: Kopiokone ei toimi toimistossa tänään, joten lähetän dokumentin sähköpostitse. - The copier doesn’t work in the office today, so I will send the document by email.

Finnish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you the person/number. Lähetän is the 1st person singular present form, so it already means (I) send. You can add minä for emphasis or contrast: Minä lähetän dokumentin… = I (as opposed to someone else) will send…

How does negation work in Kopiokone ei toimi?

Finnish negation uses a separate negative verb ei, which is conjugated for person/number:

minä en, sinä et, hän ei, me emme, te ette, he eivät

The main verb is in a special “negative form” (often identical to the stem / connegative form). Here:

toimia (to work/function) → toimi after ei So ei toimi = does not work / isn’t working.

What tense is toimi / lähetän—is it present or “will”?

Both are in the Finnish present tense:

(ei) toimi = present (“doesn’t work / isn’t working”)
lähetän = present (“I send”)

Finnish present often covers near-future meaning too, so lähetän can naturally mean I’ll send depending on context (like English I’ll email it then).

Why is dokumentin in that form—what case is it?

dokumentin is the “total object” form (often genitive-looking singular), used when the action is seen as complete/whole: send the document (as a whole).

Compare:

lähetän dokumentin = I’ll send the document (complete, one document / a finished action)
lähetän dokumenttia = I’ll send (some of) the document / I’m in the process of sending / not necessarily complete

In many everyday sentences like this, the total object dokumentin is the default choice.

What does toimistossa mean grammatically, and why does it end in -ssa?

toimistossa is toimisto (office) + the inessive case -ssa/-ssä, meaning in something:

toimisto → toimistossa = in the office

The inessive is used for being inside a place (contrast with movement into a place, which would use -Vn: toimistoon = into the office).

Why is tänään placed after toimistossa? Can the word order change?

Yes, Finnish word order is quite flexible and is often used to manage emphasis or flow.

In this sentence, toimistossa tänään reads naturally as in the office today. You could also say:

Kopiokone ei toimi tänään toimistossa (emphasis slightly more on today)
Tänään kopiokone ei toimi toimistossa (fronting today for emphasis/contrast)

The meaning stays basically the same; the focus shifts a bit.

What is joten, and how is it different from niin or koska?

joten means so / therefore, introducing a result/consequence:

Problem → joten → action/result

In contrast:

koska = because, introduces a reason: I send it because the copier…
niin can also mean so, but joten is a very clear “therefore” connector and is common in written/neutral Finnish.

So here: copier not working → joten I’ll send the document by email.

Why is there a comma before joten?

In Finnish, it’s standard to use a comma before connectors like joten when they link two independent clauses:

Kopiokone ei toimi…, joten lähetän…

This is similar to English using a comma before so/therefore when it connects two full clauses.

What does sähköpostitse mean, and what is the ending -itse?

sähköpostitse means by email / via email.

The ending -itse forms an adverb meaning “by way of / by means of” and is common with communication/transport words:

puhelimitse = by phone
postitse = by mail
sähköpostitse = by email

It’s a fixed, idiomatic way to express the means/method.

Could I also say sähköpostilla instead of sähköpostitse?

Yes. sähköpostilla (adessive -lla) is also common and means essentially by email in everyday Finnish.

Typical nuance:

sähköpostitse sounds a bit more formal/“by means of email”
sähköpostilla is very normal conversational Finnish

Both are correct in this context.

What is kopiokone—is it a compound word?

Yes. kopiokone is a compound:

kopio = copy
kone = machine So kopiokone = copy machine / photocopier.

Finnish forms compounds very freely; the parts are usually written together as one word.