Ellei remontti ole valmis huomenna, pysyn kotona.

Ellei means unless / if … not. It’s essentially jos ei compressed into one word, and it’s very common in written and formal-ish Finnish.

• Ellei remontti ole valmis… = Unless the renovation is ready…
• You can usually replace it with jos … ei: Jos remontti ei ole valmis huomenna, pysyn kotona. (same meaning, a bit more neutral/explicit)

Because the negation is already “inside” ellei.

• ellei = if + not
• After a negative, Finnish uses the connegative form of the main verb, which here is ole (the connegative of olla). So structurally it’s like: ellei (= if not) + remontti + ole valmis.

Ole is the connegative form of olla (to be).
In negative clauses Finnish uses:

• a negative auxiliary (ei, or here built into ellei)
• • the connegative main verb (ole, not on)

Compare:

• Positive: Remontti on valmis. = The renovation is ready.
• Negative: Remontti ei ole valmis. = The renovation is not ready.
• Negative condition: Ellei remontti ole valmis… = Unless the renovation is ready…

Finnish often uses the present tense to talk about the future when a time expression makes the future clear.

• pysyn = I’ll stay / I stay (context decides)
• huomenna (tomorrow) makes the time future, so pysyn kotona naturally means I’ll stay at home.

Kotona is the inessive case, meaning in/at home (location).

• kotona = staying there (location)
• kotiin (illative) = going home (movement into)
• kotoa (elative) = from home (movement out of)

Since pysyn = I stay, the location form kotona is the right choice.

Finnish typically uses a comma between a subordinate clause and the main clause.

• Ellei … huomenna, = subordinate clause (condition)
• pysyn kotona. = main clause

So the comma is standard punctuation here.

Valmis is a predicate adjective describing the subject remontti.

• remontti (subject) + ole (copula) + valmis (predicate adjective) It means the renovation is in the state of being ready/finished.

Yes, remontti is very common in everyday Finnish. It refers to:

• renovations in a home/apartment (kitchen, bathroom, etc.)
• repairs or refurbishing work It can cover anything from light redecorating to major construction, depending on context.

Yes. Finnish word order is flexible, and you can front huomenna for emphasis:

• Ellei remontti ole valmis huomenna, pysyn kotona. (neutral)
• Huomenna, ellei remontti ole valmis, pysyn kotona. (puts focus on “tomorrow”) Just keep the comma structure clear.

A very natural alternative is using jos … ei:

• Jos remontti ei oo valmis huomenna, mä pysyn kotona. Notes:
• ei oo is colloquial for ei ole
• mä (I) is common in speech; it’s often omitted in writing since the verb ending already shows the person