Tie on märkä, joten ajan hitaasti.

The road is wet, so I drive slowly.

Breakdown of Tie on märkä, joten ajan hitaasti.

• minä: I
• olla: to be
• joten: so
• hitaasti: slowly
• ajaa: to drive
• märkä: wet
• tie: road

Questions & Answers about Tie on märkä, joten ajan hitaasti.

Why is it Tie and not tien / tiellä / tietä?

Because tie is the subject in the basic nominative case (the “dictionary form”).

• Tie on märkä = The road is wet. (subject + verb on
  • predicate adjective)
    Other cases would change the meaning:
• tiellä = on the road (location)
• tietä = often along the road / (some) road (partitive, often object-like)
• tien = of the road (genitive)

What is on doing here?

On is the 3rd person singular present tense of olla (to be).
So Tie on märkä is literally Road is wet.

Why is the adjective märkä in the same form as tie?

In Finnish, a predicate adjective typically agrees with the subject in number and usually appears in the nominative:

• Tie on märkä. (singular → märkä)
  If it were plural:
• Tiet ovat märkiä. (The roads are wet.)

When would you say Tie on märkää instead of Tie on märkä?

You can hear märkää (partitive) when focusing on the idea of “wetness” as an unbounded substance/condition, often meaning something like It’s (kind of) wet / There is wetness.
But for a clear statement about the road’s state, Tie on märkä (nominative) is the straightforward and most common choice.

Why is there a comma before joten?

Because joten introduces a result clause, and Finnish typically uses a comma to separate two clauses:

• Tie on märkä, joten ajan hitaasti.
  Clause 1: Tie on märkä
  Clause 2: ajan hitaasti

What exactly does joten mean, and how is it different from koska?

• joten = so / therefore (it introduces a result)
• koska = because (it introduces a reason)
  So:
• Tie on märkä, joten ajan hitaasti. = The road is wet, so I drive slowly.
  Compare:
• Ajan hitaasti, koska tie on märkä. = I drive slowly because the road is wet.

Why is it ajan and not minä ajan?

Finnish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending shows the person:

• ajan = I drive (1st person singular ending -n)
  You can add minä for emphasis/contrast:
• Minä ajan hitaasti. = I (as opposed to someone else) drive slowly.

What is the base form of ajan, and why does it look like that?

The base (dictionary) form is ajaa = to drive.
Present tense 1st person singular is formed by adding -n, and one a is lost:

• ajaa → ajan
  Other present forms:
• ajan (I drive)
• ajat (you drive)
• ajaa (he/she drives)
• ajamme (we drive)
• ajatte (you plural drive)
• ajavat (they drive)

How do you know ajan means “drive” here and not “time”?

Context and grammar.

• ajan can also be the genitive/accusative form of aika (time): ajan = of time / a time (period).
  But here it’s followed by an adverb hitaasti (slowly), which fits a verb (I drive slowly) perfectly.

How is hitaasti formed, and what part of speech is it?

hitaasti is an adverb meaning slowly. It’s commonly formed from an adjective by adding -sti:

• hidas = slow (adjective)
• hitaasti = slowly (adverb)
  It answers “how?”: ajan hitaasti = I drive how? slowly.

Could I swap the word order and still be correct?

Yes, Finnish word order is flexible, but changes emphasis. For example:

• Tie on märkä, joten ajan hitaasti. (neutral)
• Tie on märkä, joten hitaasti ajan. (emphasis on slowly, more stylistic)
• Hitaasti ajan, koska tie on märkä. (fronting for emphasis, common in speech/writing for style)

Could Finnish use a passive instead of ajan?

Yes, if you want a general statement rather than “I” specifically:

• Tie on märkä, joten ajetaan hitaasti. = The road is wet, so people/one/we drive slowly.
  The passive ajetaan is often used like English “you/we/people” in general instructions or shared situations.

Is there anything special about Tie being capitalized?

Only that it’s the first word of the sentence. Finnish doesn’t capitalize common nouns like road unless they start a sentence or are part of a proper name.