Questions & Answers about Pyyhin pölyn pois hyllyltä.
Because pölyn is a total object form: you’re wiping the dust completely away (especially reinforced by pois).
- pyyhkiä pölyn (pois) = wipe the dust off / remove it (all of it)
- pyyhkiä pölyä = wipe some dust / do some dust-wiping (partial, ongoing, or indefinite amount)
In singular nouns, the total object often looks like the genitive (-n), even though functionally it’s the object.
pois means away/off, emphasizing that the dust is removed from its place.
- Pyyhin pölyn pois hyllyltä. = I wiped the dust away/off the shelf.
- Pyyhin pölyn hyllyltä. = I wiped the dust from the shelf. (Still fine; slightly less explicit about “away”.)
With many verbs of removal, pois strongly suggests a total result, which pairs naturally with pölyn (total object).
-lta/-ltä is the ablative case, typically used for movement/removal from a surface:
- hyllyltä = off/from the shelf (surface)
-sta/-stä is the elative case, typically used for movement out of an interior/container:
- hyllystä would suggest “out of the shelf” as if the shelf were an enclosed space (more natural with something like a cabinet: kaapista).
hyllyltä is ablative (ending -ltä). It answers “from where?” in the “off a surface” sense:
- Mistä (pois)? = From where (away)? → hyllyltä
Related “shelf” location cases you’ll often see:
- hyllyllä (adessive) = on the shelf
- hyllylle (allative) = onto the shelf
- hyllyltä (ablative) = off/from the shelf
It can be either, depending on context. With pyyhkiä, the 1st and 2nd person forms of present and simple past can look the same.
You usually know from:
- context/time words: eilen pyyhin… (yesterday → past), nyt pyyhin… (now → present)
- other persons: hän pyyhkii (present) vs hän pyyhki (past)
If you need an unambiguous past, you can use the perfect:
- Olen pyyhkinyt pölyn pois hyllyltä. = I have wiped the dust off the shelf.
Finnish usually omits subject pronouns because the verb ending shows the person.
- pyyhi-n = I (1st person singular)
You can add minä for emphasis/contrast:
- Minä pyyhin pölyn pois hyllyltä (en sinä). = I wiped it off (not you).
This is a common Finnish pattern involving stem change / consonant gradation.
- Infinitive: pyyhkiä
- 1st person singular: pyyhin (the hk combination simplifies)
You’ll still see the k in some forms, e.g.:
- 3rd person past: hän pyyhki
- participle: pyyhkinyt (as in olen pyyhkinyt)
Yes.
- pölyn (singular) = “the dust” as a mass/collective substance
- pölyt (plural) = “the dusts” meaning dust in multiple spots/particles; often natural when talking about cleaning generally
Both can be idiomatic in Finnish; pölyt is common in cleaning contexts (like “wipe the dusts off”).
Yes—Finnish word order is flexible and often changes emphasis/topic. For example:
- Pyyhin pölyn pois hyllyltä. = neutral
- Hyllyltä pyyhin pölyn pois. = emphasizes where from (off the shelf)
- Pölyn pyyhin pois hyllyltä. = emphasizes what was removed (the dust)
- Pois pyyhin pölyn hyllyltä. = emphasizes the “away” result (less neutral, more contrastive)
Use the partitive object:
- Pyyhin pölyä hyllyltä. = I wiped some dust from the shelf / did some dust-wiping (not necessarily all removed)
You might also drop pois if you want to avoid the “completely away” implication:
- Pyyhin pölyä hyllyltä.