Log inSign up

Kysyn isännöitsijältä huomenna, milloin vesikatko alkaa.

Kysyn isännöitsijältä huomenna, milloin vesikatko alkaa.
I will ask the property manager tomorrow when the water outage starts.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Finnish grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Finnish now

Questions & Answers about Kysyn isännöitsijältä huomenna, milloin vesikatko alkaa.

Why does isännöitsijä become isännöitsijältä?

Because -lta / -ltä is the ablative case, which often means from (someone/something). With verbs like kysyä (to ask), Finnish typically marks the person you ask as a “source”:

  • kysyn isännöitsijältä = I ask (it) from the building manager
  • Base word: isännöitsijä
  • Add ablative ending (front-vowel version because of ä): -ltä → isännöitsijältä
Why not Kysyn isännöitsijää huomenna...?

kysyä doesn’t usually take the person as a direct object in the way English does. Instead:

  • kysyä joltakulta = ask from someone (ablative: -lta/-ltä)
  • what you ask can be:
    • kysyä jotakin (a noun phrase) or
    • an embedded clause (like milloin vesikatko alkaa)

So isännöitsijältä is the normal, natural choice here.

Why is Kysyn in the present tense if it refers to the future?

Finnish commonly uses the present tense for planned future actions when a time word makes the future clear:

  • Kysyn ... huomenna = literally I ask ... tomorrow, meaning I’ll ask ... tomorrow Finnish doesn’t have a separate dedicated future tense like English does.
What’s the role of the comma: huomenna, milloin...?

The comma separates the main clause from the embedded (indirect) question:

  • Main clause: Kysyn isännöitsijältä huomenna
  • Embedded question: milloin vesikatko alkaa

In Finnish, embedded clauses are typically separated with a comma.

Why is there no question mark, even though it contains a question word (milloin)?

Because the whole sentence is a statement (you’re saying what you will ask), not asking the listener directly. Compare:

  • Direct question: Milloin vesikatko alkaa? (When does the water cut start?) → question mark
  • Indirect question: Kysyn ..., milloin vesikatko alkaa. (I’ll ask ..., when the water cut starts.) → period
Does word order change inside the embedded question?

In Finnish, embedded questions usually keep normal statement word order, which often looks identical to the direct question:

  • Direct: Milloin vesikatko alkaa?
  • Embedded: ..., milloin vesikatko alkaa.

You don’t do English-style auxiliary inversion (like when does it start).

Could I move huomenna elsewhere in the sentence?

Yes. Word order is flexible, and different positions can slightly change emphasis:

  • Kysyn isännöitsijältä huomenna, milloin vesikatko alkaa. (neutral)
  • Kysyn huomenna isännöitsijältä, milloin vesikatko alkaa. (slight emphasis on tomorrow)
  • Huomenna kysyn isännöitsijältä, milloin vesikatko alkaa. (stronger emphasis on tomorrow)

All are grammatical.

Why is it milloin and not koska?

Both can translate as when, but there’s a common tendency:

  • milloin focuses on time/point in time (more “at what time/when exactly”)
  • koska can also mean because, and often feels more like “when (at the time that)” depending on context

In practical everyday Finnish, milloin is very common for asking about schedules and start times, like a cutoff beginning.

What case is vesikatko, and why isn’t it marked with anything?

vesikatko is the subject of the embedded clause vesikatko alkaa, so it’s in the nominative (the basic dictionary form).

  • vesikatko = the water outage/cutoff
  • alkaa = begins/starts → The water cut starts.
What is vesikatko grammatically—why is it one word?

It’s a common Finnish compound noun:

  • vesi = water
  • katko/katkos/katkaisu-type idea = break/cut/interruption → vesikatko = water outage / interruption in water service

Finnish forms compounds very freely, and they’re normally written as one word.