Word
En vastaa puheluun yöllä, jotta nukun hyvin.
Meaning
I don’t answer the call at night so that I sleep well.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about En vastaa puheluun yöllä, jotta nukun hyvin.
Why does the sentence start with En?
En is the 1st person singular form of the Finnish negative verb (ei = “not”). Finnish forms many negatives with:
- negative verb (conjugated for the person) + main verb in the connegative form
So En vastaa... literally works like “I not answer...”.
Why is it En vastaa and not En vastaan?
Because after the negative verb, Finnish uses the connegative form of the main verb, not the normal personal ending.
- Positive: Minä vastaan (vastata → vastaan, “I answer”)
- Negative: Minä en vastaa (connegative vastaa)
That vastaa form looks like the 3rd person singular (hän vastaa), but here it’s specifically the connegative used after en.
What case is puheluun, and why is it used?