Tarvitsen oikean työkalun, jotta voin kiinnittää valaisimen seinään.

I need the right tool so that I can attach the lamp to the wall.

Breakdown of Tarvitsen oikean työkalun, jotta voin kiinnittää valaisimen seinään.

• minä: I
• tarvita: to need
• voida: can
• jotta: so that
• oikea: right
• kiinnittää: to attach
• työkalu: tool
• valaisin: lamp
• -ään: to
• seinä: wall

Questions & Answers about Tarvitsen oikean työkalun, jotta voin kiinnittää valaisimen seinään.

Why doesn’t the sentence start with Minä? Is Tarvitsen enough?

Yes. Finnish commonly drops the subject pronoun because the verb ending already shows the person.

• tarvitsen = I need
  You can add minä for emphasis/contrast (e.g., Minä tarvitsen… mutta sinä et. = I need… but you don’t.).

Why is it oikean työkalun and not oikea työkalu?

Because tarvitsen requires an object, and objects in Finnish take a case ending. Here the object is työkalun (with an ending), not the dictionary form työkalu.

• työkalu = the basic form
• työkalun = object form used here (often called accusative/genitive-looking singular)

Why is the object työkalun (not partitive työkalua) after tarvitsen?

Both can be possible, but they mean slightly different things:

• Tarvitsen työkalua. = I need (some) tool / I need a tool (unspecified, part of an amount)
• Tarvitsen oikean työkalun. = I need the right tool (a specific one)

Using -n (työkalun) signals a specific, “complete/definite” object in this context.

What does oikean mean here, and could it mean “right (opposite of left)”?

Here oikean means correct / suitable: the right tool.
Finnish oikea can mean:

• correct (most common in this kind of phrase)
• right-hand side (opposite of left)
  Context decides. With työkalu (tool), it’s naturally correct/suitable.

What is jotta, and why is there a comma before it?

jotta means so that / in order that and introduces a purpose clause. Finnish normally uses a comma before subordinate clauses like this:

• Tarvitsen …, jotta … = I need … so that …

Why does the sentence use voin (“I can”)? Could you just say jotta kiinnitän…?

jotta voin kiinnittää… is very natural because it explicitly expresses ability/possibility: so that I’m able to attach…
You can sometimes say jotta kiinnitän… (so that I attach…), but it can sound less precise in meaning here. Using voin emphasizes that the tool makes it possible.

Is there a shorter way to say “so that I can attach…” without jotta?

Yes. A common alternative is the -kse- purpose construction:

• Tarvitsen oikean työkalun kiinnittääkseni valaisimen seinään.
  = I need the right tool to attach the lamp to the wall.

This is a bit more “written/compact” than the jotta clause.

Why is it kiinnittää and not a conjugated form like kiinnitän?

Because voin is a modal verb (can), and Finnish modals take the 1st infinitive (dictionary infinitive) of the main verb:

• voin kiinnittää = I can attach
  So kiinnittää is the infinitive “to attach.”

Why is it valaisimen and not valaisin or valaisinta?

valaisimen is the object form (again the -n form). It suggests a specific, complete item: the light fixture you’re attaching.

• valaisin = basic form
• valaisinta (partitive) would suggest something less “bounded” (e.g., not a specific single unit, or focusing on an ongoing/partial action in some contexts). Here attaching one fixture is naturally treated as a whole, so valaisimen fits well.

What case is seinään, and why is it used?

seinään is illative case (“into”). With fastening/attaching, Finnish often uses illative because you’re conceptually fixing something into the wall (screws/anchors go into it):

• seinään = into the wall (typical for fastening)

You may also see:

• seinälle (allative, “onto the wall”) when the idea is more like placing something onto a surface rather than fastening into it. For a fixture you screw in, seinään is very common.

What does kiinnittää mean exactly? Is it always “attach”?

kiinnittää means to fasten / attach / fix / secure. It’s used for many kinds of attaching:

• kiinnittää juliste seinään = fasten a poster to the wall
• kiinnittää turvavyö = fasten a seatbelt
• kiinnittää huomiota = pay attention (literally “attach attention”)

Why does Finnish sometimes look like it uses “genitive” endings (-n) for objects?

In the singular, the “total object” often ends in -n, which looks identical to the genitive singular. In many learning materials this is explained as:

• genitive-looking accusative for singular total objects
  So työkalun and valaisimen are functioning as objects here, even though the ending matches the genitive form.

How would I make the sentence plural (tools or fixtures)?

Examples:

• Tarvitsen oikeat työkalut, jotta voin kiinnittää valaisimet seinään.
  = I need the right tools so that I can attach the light fixtures to the wall.

Notice the plural objects:

• oikeat työkalut (plural total object)
• valaisimet (plural total object)