Breakdown of Jos auto on märkä, pesen sen ulkona.
Questions & Answers about Jos auto on märkä, pesen sen ulkona.
Jos means if and introduces a conditional clause. Finnish often places the if-clause first, but it can also come after the main clause.
Structure here:
- Jos auto on märkä = the condition (subordinate clause)
- pesen sen ulkona = what happens if the condition is true (main clause)
A comma is used between these clauses in Finnish when the conditional clause comes first (as it does here).
Finnish uses a comma to separate a subordinate clause from the main clause. The Jos... clause is subordinate, so you write:
- Jos auto on märkä, pesen sen ulkona.
If you switch the order, you still usually use a comma:
- Pesen sen ulkona, jos auto on märkä.
on is the 3rd person singular present tense of olla (to be), so it corresponds to English is:
- auto on märkä = the car is wet
Finnish doesn’t use a separate word like is; on is the Finnish form.
Here auto is the subject of the clause auto on märkä (the car is wet), so it stays in the basic form (nominative singular).
You’d see other forms in different roles:
- auton (genitive) often marks ownership or total objects: pesen auton = I wash the car (completely / as a whole)
- autoa (partitive) can imply an incomplete/ongoing action: pesen autoa = I’m washing the car (some / in progress)
But in auto on märkä, it’s simply the subject.
Yes—Finnish predicate adjectives agree in number and case with the subject in these basic “X is Y” sentences. Since auto is singular nominative, märkä is also singular nominative:
- Auto on märkä.
If the subject changes, the adjective changes too:
- Autot ovat märkiä. = The cars are wet. (plural + partitive after “are” in this type of statement is common)
Finnish usually doesn’t need a separate subject pronoun because the verb ending shows the person.
pesen = I wash (1st person singular present of pestä).
So (minä) pesen is possible, but minä is often omitted unless you want emphasis/contrast.
sen means it (referring back to auto) and is the object form of se (it/that). Finnish often uses pronouns like this to avoid repetition:
- pesen sen = I wash it
You could also repeat the noun:
- Jos auto on märkä, pesen auton ulkona. That’s grammatical, but can sound a bit heavier depending on context.
Object case depends on how the action is viewed (completed/total vs. ongoing/partial) and on the verb environment. Here pestä (to wash) commonly takes:
- total object → sen / auton (often implying washing it as a whole / to completion)
- partitive object → sitä / autoa (often implies “some of it” or “in progress”)
So:
- Pesen sen. ≈ I’ll wash it (as a complete task).
- Pesen sitä. ≈ I’m washing it (ongoing / not focusing on completion).
Both can be valid depending on what you mean, but pesen sen is a very natural default for “I wash it” as a bounded action.
ulkona means outside and is the inessive case of ulkona/ulkona from the concept ulkona (related to ulkona as a fixed adverbial form). Functionally, it answers “where?”:
- Missä? = Where? → ulkona = outside
Finnish often expresses location with cases rather than prepositions. Compare:
- ulkona = outside (at/in the outside area)
- ulos = out (to outside) (movement)
- ulkona fits here because washing happens in that location.
- pesen sen ulkona = I wash it outside (location where the washing happens)
- ulos would mean movement out (to outside), so it doesn’t fit well as the main “where” of washing. You might say something like: Vien sen ulos ja pesen sen. = I take it outside and wash it.
- pihalla = in the yard (more specific place than just “outside”).
So:- pihalla answers “where exactly outside?”
- ulkona is more general.
Finnish doesn’t have a dedicated future tense. The present tense often covers:
- present actions
- future actions (especially when context makes it clear)
In a conditional like this, pesen can naturally mean “I (will) wash” depending on context:
- Jos auto on märkä, pesen sen ulkona. = If the car is wet, I wash/will wash it outside.
Yes, but it changes the nuance.
- Jos auto on märkä, pesen sen ulkona. = a real/normal condition and response (likely, practical rule)
- Jos auto olisi märkä, pesisin sen ulkona. = more hypothetical/less real (“if it were wet, I would wash it outside”)
So pesen fits when the condition is realistic and the result is stated as a regular consequence or plan.
jos = if (uncertain condition: may or may not be true)
kun = when (typically implies it will happen / is expected to happen, or refers to a specific time situation)
So:
- Jos auto on märkä, pesen sen ulkona. = If the car is wet (in case it is), I’ll wash it outside.
- Kun auto on märkä, pesen sen ulkona. = When the car is wet, I wash it outside (more like a routine triggered by that situation, or “once it’s wet, then…”)
Yes. Finnish word order is flexible, and you can move the conditional clause after the main clause:
- Pesen sen ulkona, jos auto on märkä.
The meaning stays basically the same. The choice often depends on what you want to emphasize:
- Starting with Jos... sets up the condition first.
- Starting with Pesen... foregrounds the action and adds the condition after.
Yes, that’s fine if it’s clear what se refers to from context. It would mean:
- If it is wet, I wash it outside.
However, using auto in the first clause can be clearer, especially if there are multiple possible referents. In your sentence, auto makes the reference explicit.