Teen varmuuskopion ja lähetän tiedoston yhdellä kertaa.

I make a backup and send the file in one go.

Breakdown of Teen varmuuskopion ja lähetän tiedoston yhdellä kertaa.

• minä: I
• ja: and
• tehdä: to make
• lähettää: to send
• tiedosto: the file
• varmuuskopio: the backup
• yhdellä kertaa: in one go

Questions & Answers about Teen varmuuskopion ja lähetän tiedoston yhdellä kertaa.

Why is there no word for I in the sentence?

Finnish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person.

• Teen = (I) do / I make
• lähetän = (I) send
  You can add minä (Minä teen…) for emphasis or contrast, but it’s not needed in neutral speech.

What verb is teen, and why doesn’t it look like the dictionary form?

Teen is the 1st person singular present tense of tehdä (to do / to make).
The stem changes because tehdä is an irregular verb:

• tehdä → teen (I do), teet (you do), tekee (he/she does), etc.

What verb is lähetän, and what is the base form?

Lähetän is I send from the verb lähettää (to send).
This verb shows a common Finnish pattern where the infinitive has -ttää/-ttaa, but the present tense has -t-:

• lähettää → lähetän, lähetät, lähettää, lähetämme, etc.

Why are both verbs in the present tense? Does Finnish use the present for the future?

Yes. Finnish often uses the present tense to talk about near-future plans, especially when the time is clear from context (or simply understood).
So Teen … ja lähetän … can mean:

• I make a backup and send the file (now / as a plan / next).

Why is it varmuuskopion and not varmuuskopiota?

This is about object case choice. In many contexts, Finnish uses:

• Genitive/“total object” (often looks like -n) when the action is seen as completed/whole: teen varmuuskopion = I make the backup (a complete backup)
• Partitive when the action is incomplete, ongoing, repeated, or “some of”: teen varmuuskopiota = I’m making a backup (process ongoing / not necessarily finished)

In your sentence, the idea is “I’ll do it (fully) and then send the file,” so varmuuskopion fits.

Why is it tiedoston and not tiedostoa?

Same object-case logic:

• lähetän tiedoston (total object) = I send the file (as a complete action / the whole file)
• lähetän tiedostoa (partitive) = I’m sending a file (in progress), or I send files (as an activity), depending on context

Because the sentence suggests one complete sending action, tiedoston is used.

Is -n here genitive or accusative? I’ve heard Finnish has an accusative.

In singular nouns, the “total object” often looks identical to the genitive (-n), and many learners just think of it as object -n. More precisely:

• In an affirmative present-tense clause like this, the total object is typically genitive-looking: varmuuskopion, tiedoston. Finnish also has an “accusative” category in grammar descriptions, but for most practical purposes here: -n marks a total/completed object.

What does yhdellä kertaa literally mean, and why is yhdellä in that form?

Yhdellä kertaa means in one go / at once / in a single batch.
Literally: with one time/occasion.

yhdellä is the adessive case of yksi (one):

• yksi → yhdellä = on/at/with one (adessive often covers “at” or “with” ideas)

kerta = time (occasion), and kerralla is a common adessive form meaning at one time / at once. The phrase behaves like an adverbial expression.

Could I put yhdellä kertaa somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. Finnish word order is flexible, and moving it changes emphasis:

• Teen varmuuskopion ja lähetän tiedoston yhdellä kertaa. (neutral: the “one go” applies to the overall action set)
• Teen yhdellä kertaa varmuuskopion ja lähetän tiedoston. (emphasizes doing it in one go)
• Yhdellä kertaa teen varmuuskopion ja lähetän tiedoston. (strong emphasis: “in one go, I do…”)

Most of the time, the original position at the end is natural and common.

Does yhdellä kertaa mean “simultaneously,” like both actions happen at the exact same moment?

Not necessarily. It usually means as one combined operation / without splitting it up, not “at the same millisecond.”
Here it suggests: you do the backup and then send the file as one uninterrupted workflow or single batch, rather than in multiple separate steps.

Why does Finnish use ja with two full verbs instead of repeating the subject?

Finnish commonly coordinates verbs with ja (and) and keeps the subject implicit:

• Teen … ja lähetän … = I do … and I send …
  Repeating minä would sound emphatic or contrastive:
• Minä teen … ja minä lähetän … = “I (specifically) do… and I (specifically) send…”

Is teen varmuuskopion the most natural way to say “make a backup,” or are there alternatives?

Tehdä varmuuskopio is correct and common. Another very common option is:

• otan varmuuskopion = I take/make a backup (often very idiomatic in Finnish)

Both are fine; choice can depend on style or what sounds natural in your context.