Breakdown of En tarvitse sateenvarjoa enää, koska sää on kaunis.
Questions & Answers about En tarvitse sateenvarjoa enää, koska sää on kaunis.
Finnish negation uses a special negative verb that conjugates for person/number.
- en = I don’t
- et = you don’t
- ei = he/she/it doesn’t
So En tarvitse… literally means “I don’t need…”, with en marking both negation and “I”.
After the negative verb (en/et/ei…), Finnish uses the connegative form of the main verb (a form that doesn’t show person endings).
So:
- Positive: (Minä) tarvitsen sateenvarjon. = I need an umbrella.
- Negative: En tarvitse sateenvarjoa. = I don’t need an umbrella.
The -n personal ending disappears in the negative.
In Finnish, a direct object is very often in the partitive in negative sentences. Negation strongly “pulls” the object into the partitive:
- Tarvitsen sateenvarjon. (often total object; “an/the umbrella” as a complete thing)
- En tarvitse sateenvarjoa. (negative → partitive)
This is a core rule to learn: negative verb + object → usually partitive.
Finnish has no articles (a/the), so the same form can often match either. Context decides.
Here sateenvarjoa just means umbrella as the needed item; English typically uses an umbrella in this kind of sentence.
enää means anymore / no longer. It often appears near the verb or near the thing that changes.
Common placements:
- En tarvitse sateenvarjoa enää. (neutral)
- En enää tarvitse sateenvarjoa. (emphasis: “I no longer need…”) Both are natural; the choice is mostly about emphasis.
In Finnish, a subordinate clause introduced by koska (because) is typically separated with a comma:
- Main clause: En tarvitse sateenvarjoa enää,
- Because-clause: koska sää on kaunis.
This comma is more consistent in Finnish than in English style.
koska can mean:
- because (most common in everyday Finnish)
- sometimes since / as
In older or more formal language it can also be used in a time sense (“when”), but for learners it’s safest to treat koska as because unless context clearly indicates time.
With the verb olla (to be), the predicate adjective is typically in the nominative:
- sää on kaunis = the weather is beautiful/nice
Partitive predicate (kaunista) is used in different meanings/contexts (often “somewhat / partially / in an ongoing sense” or with certain abstract evaluations), but for a normal statement about today’s weather, kaunis is the standard choice.
on is 3rd person singular of olla (“is”), and the subject is already there: sää. Finnish doesn’t need a dummy “it” like English often does.
So:
- English: The weather is nice. / It is nice.
- Finnish: Sää on kaunis. (no extra pronoun needed)
You can add se in some contexts for emphasis or contrast, but it’s not necessary here.
You can say Minä en tarvitse sateenvarjoa enää…, but Finnish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb/negative verb already shows the person.
Including minä often adds emphasis, like: “I don’t need an umbrella anymore (but maybe someone else does).”
The base word is sateenvarjo = umbrella (literally “rain-shade”).
- sade = rain
- sateen- is a form meaning “of rain” used in compounds
Then -a marks partitive singular: sateenvarjoa.
So the length is mostly from compounding + a case ending.
Yes, that’s also correct. Finnish allows both orders:
- En tarvitse sateenvarjoa enää, koska sää on kaunis. (main clause first)
- Koska sää on kaunis, en tarvitse sateenvarjoa enää. (because-clause first)
The meaning stays the same; placing the koska clause first can feel a bit more like setting the reason/background first.