Questions & Answers about Vanha putki vuotaa taas.
Finnish does not have articles, so there is no direct equivalent of English the or a/an.
That means vanha putki can mean things like:
- an old pipe
- the old pipe
- just old pipe
Which one is meant depends on the context, not on a separate article word.
In Finnish, an adjective normally comes before the noun when it directly describes it.
So:
- vanha putki = old pipe
This is the normal attributive pattern: adjective + noun.
If you put the adjective separately after a verb, then it works differently:
- Putki on vanha. = The pipe is old.
So in your sentence, vanha is directly modifying putki, which is why it comes first.
Both are in the nominative singular, which is the basic dictionary-like form for nouns and adjectives in a simple subject phrase.
Here:
- putki is the subject
- vanha agrees with putki
Finnish adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in case and number. So because putki is nominative singular, vanha is nominative singular too.
That is why you get:
- vanha putki
If the noun changed form, the adjective would change too:
- vanhan putken = of the old pipe / the old pipe in certain object contexts
This is a very common thing for learners to notice.
The dictionary form is:
- vuotaa = to leak
But the 3rd person singular present tense is also:
- vuotaa = leaks / is leaking
So the infinitive and the he/she/it form happen to look the same here.
You can tell which one it is from the sentence structure:
- putki vuotaa cannot mean pipe to leak
- so here vuotaa must be the finite verb: leaks / is leaking
If you compare other persons, the difference becomes clearer:
- minä vuodan = I leak / I am leaking
- sinä vuodat = you leak / are leaking
- hän vuotaa = he/she/it leaks / is leaking
It can mean either, depending on context.
Finnish does not usually make the same strong distinction that English makes between:
- leaks
- is leaking
The plain present tense often covers both a general fact and something happening right now.
So vuotaa can mean:
- leaks
- is leaking
In a sentence like this, English might naturally translate it as is leaking again, but grammatically Finnish is just using the normal present tense.
Because vuotaa already contains the whole verbal idea.
In English, you often need:
- is leaking
But Finnish usually just uses one verb form:
- vuotaa
So there is no extra auxiliary here.
Compare:
- Putki on vanha. = The pipe is old.
Here on is needed because old is not a verb.
But:
- Putki vuotaa. = The pipe leaks / is leaking.
Here vuotaa is already the main verb, so no separate is appears.
Here taas means again.
It tells you that this is a repeated situation: the pipe has leaked before, and now it is happening another time.
In this sentence, taas is very natural because recurring problems are often described with it.
A useful nuance:
- taas often means again / once more / back to the same situation
- in other contexts, taas can also mean something like on the other hand, but not here
So in this sentence, the meaning is simply again.
Yes. Finnish word order is more flexible than English word order, although not completely free.
Vanha putki vuotaa taas is a neutral, straightforward order.
Other orders are possible, but they change emphasis a bit:
Putki vuotaa taas.
More neutral if putki is already known from context.Taas vanha putki vuotaa.
Puts extra emphasis on again.Vanha putki taas vuotaa.
Can sound like the old pipe is leaking again with a slightly stronger pause or contrastive feel.
So the original order is a good basic one, but Finnish can move words around to highlight different parts of the message.
A simple learner-friendly guide is:
VAHN-ha POOT-ki VUO-taa TAAS
A few useful pronunciation points:
- Stress in Finnish is normally on the first syllable of each word.
- u is like the vowel in food.
- a is like a in father.
- Double vowels are pronounced longer:
- vuotaa
- taas
- vh is not a special sound here; in vanha, you pronounce both consonants: van-ha.
So the rhythm is quite even and clear:
- VAN-ha PUT-ki VUO-taa TAAS