Siskoni odottaa minua pysäkillä, koska bussi on myöhässä.

My sister is waiting for me at the bus stop, because the bus is late.

Breakdown of Siskoni odottaa minua pysäkillä, koska bussi on myöhässä.

• olla: to be
• minun: my
• koska: because
• minä: me
• odottaa: to wait for
• myöhäinen: late
• -llä: at
• bussi: bus
• sisko: sister
• pysäkki: bus stop

Questions & Answers about Siskoni odottaa minua pysäkillä, koska bussi on myöhässä.

Why is siskoni one word? How does it express my sister?

Finnish often attaches possession directly to the noun using a possessive suffix.

• sisko = sister
• sisko-ni = sister-my → my sister
  So siskoni is equivalent in meaning to minun sisko (my sister), but the suffix form is very common and natural.

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Could you also say minun siskoni? If yes, what’s the difference?

Yes. minun siskoni is possible, but it’s usually used for emphasis or contrast, e.g. my sister (not yours).
In neutral everyday style, siskoni alone is often enough because the -ni already marks possession.

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Why is it minua and not minä/minut/minun?

Because the verb odottaa (to wait for) typically takes its object in the partitive case.

• minä = I (nominative, subject form)
• minut = me (accusative/total object, often “completely/once”)
• minun = my (genitive)
• minua = me (partitive) ← used after odottaa
  So odottaa minua = waits for me.

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Does odottaa always require the partitive, or are there exceptions?

Most of the time, yes: odottaa + partitive is the standard pattern for “wait for X”.
You may see other cases in special constructions (or older/literary usage), but as a learner you can treat odottaa + partitive as the reliable rule:

• Odotan sinua. = I’m waiting for you.

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What case is pysäkillä, and why does it mean “at the stop”?

pysäkillä is in the adessive case (-lla/-llä), which commonly expresses location “on/at” something.

• pysäkki = (bus) stop
• pysäkillä = at the stop
  It’s a typical choice for places understood as a point/location where you are present: at the stop, at the station, etc.

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Why does pysäkki become pysäkillä (why kk → k)?

That’s consonant gradation (strong ↔ weak grade) plus adding the case ending.

• Base form: pysäkki (strong grade kk)
• With endings, the stem often uses the weak grade: pysäki-
• Then add adessive -llä → pysäkillä
  So you get kk → k and also -llä attaches.

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What’s the role of koska, and why is there a comma before it?

koska means because and introduces a subordinate clause giving the reason.
In standard Finnish writing, you normally put a comma before a subordinate clause introduced by words like koska:

• Main clause, koska
  • reason clause.

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Is the word order fixed? Could it be Koska bussi on myöhässä, siskoni odottaa minua pysäkillä?

Yes, that alternative order is correct. Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and you can place the reason clause first for emphasis or style:

• Koska bussi on myöhässä, siskoni odottaa minua pysäkillä.
  When the koska-clause comes first, you still use a comma to separate the clauses.

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Why does Finnish use on here, and what exactly is it?

on is the 3rd person singular present form of olla (to be):

• minä olen
• hän/se on
  So bussi on ... = the bus is ...

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What form is myöhässä, and why does “late” look like a location ending?

myöhässä is the inessive case form (-ssa/-ssä) of the word myöhä (used in set expressions). Finnish commonly expresses being late with the idiom olla myöhässä—literally something like “to be in lateness.”
So you learn it as a fixed, very common phrase:

• Olen myöhässä. = I’m late.
• Bussi on myöhässä. = The bus is late.

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Why is it bussi and not something like “the bus”? Does Finnish have articles?

Finnish has no articles like a/an or the. Context usually tells you whether it’s a specific bus or buses in general.
So bussi can correspond to the bus or a bus depending on the situation.