En onnistunut kirjautumaan sisään, koska netti oli poikki.

I didn’t manage to log in, because the internet was down.

Breakdown of En onnistunut kirjautumaan sisään, koska netti oli poikki.

• minä: I
• olla: to be
• koska: because
• ei: not
• netti: the internet
• kirjautua sisään: to log in
• poikki: down; broken
• onnistua: to work; to succeed

Questions & Answers about En onnistunut kirjautumaan sisään, koska netti oli poikki.

Why does the sentence start with En instead of Minä en?

Finnish normally leaves out the subject pronoun when it’s obvious from the verb form. En already means I do not (1st person singular of the negative verb), so minä is unnecessary. You can add minä for contrast/emphasis: Minä en onnistunut… = I (as opposed to someone else) didn’t manage…

What exactly is en onnistunut grammatically? Is it a “perfect tense”?

It’s the standard way to form the negative past in Finnish. In the affirmative you’d say onnistuin (past tense). In the negative, Finnish uses:

• the negative auxiliary (en) +
• the past participle of the main verb (onnistunut)

Even though onnistunut looks like a participle, the whole meaning corresponds to simple past: I didn’t manage / I wasn’t able to succeed (in doing it).

Why is it kirjautumaan and not kirjautua?

Because the verb onnistua commonly takes the MA-infinitive in the illative to express succeed in doing something:

• onnistua + -maan / -mään = manage to / succeed in doing

So:

• onnistua kirjautumaan = manage to log in

The base verb is kirjautua (to log in), and kirjautumaan is the -maan form used after verbs like onnistua, pystyä, päästä etc.

What does sisään do here? Is it required?

sisään literally means in / inside and works like a particle with kirjautua:

• kirjautua sisään = log in
• kirjautua ulos = log out

In everyday Finnish, kirjautua (sisään) is often said with sisään, especially when contrasting with ulos. It’s not always strictly required in context, but it’s very common and natural.

Why is there a comma before koska?

A comma often separates the main clause from a subordinate clause starting with koska (because):

• En onnistunut kirjautumaan sisään, koska…

In informal writing the comma may sometimes be omitted, but using it is standard and clear.

What case/structure is netti here? Is it slang?

netti is a very common everyday word meaning the internet / the internet connection. It’s informal compared to internet, but extremely widely used.

In netti oli poikki, netti is simply the subject in the basic form (nominative): the internet (connection) was…

What does oli poikki literally mean, and why poikki?

poikki literally means broken / cut off (like a cable snapped). With olla it forms a common idiom for connections/services not working:

• netti on poikki = the internet is down
• puhelinlinja on poikki = the phone line is down

Here it’s past: oli poikki = was down / was cut off.

Could I replace this with En voinut kirjautua sisään? What’s the difference?

Yes, and it’s also very natural:

• En voinut kirjautua sisään… = I couldn’t log in… (focus on inability)
• En onnistunut kirjautumaan sisään… = I didn’t manage to log in… (focus on the attempt/result)

Both work with the same reason clause (koska netti oli poikki).

How would this change in the present tense?

Present:

• En onnistu kirjautumaan sisään, koska netti on poikki.
  = I’m not managing to log in because the internet is down.

Notice both verbs shift to present: onnistu and on.

How would it look for “we” or “they”?

Examples (past):

• Emme onnistuneet kirjautumaan sisään, koska netti oli poikki. = We didn’t manage…
• He eivät onnistuneet kirjautumaan sisään, koska netti oli poikki. = They didn’t manage…

Finnish negative past keeps the same pattern: negative verb (emme / eivät) + past participle (onnistuneet).