Laura sanoi, että hän tulee myöhemmin.

Että is the conjunction that. It introduces a subordinate clause:

• Laura sanoi = Laura said
• että hän tulee myöhemmin = that she/he will come later

So että connects the reporting part and the content of what was said.

This is a very common question for English speakers.

In English, we often backshift tenses in reported speech:

• Laura said that she would come later.

In Finnish, that kind of backshifting usually does not happen in the same way. If the coming is still future relative to the moment of speaking in the sentence, Finnish often keeps the verb in the present tense:

• Laura sanoi, että hän tulee myöhemmin.

Literally, the structure is closer to:

• Laura said that she comes later

But the natural English translation is usually:

• Laura said that she would come later or
• Laura said that she will come later, depending on context.

So the tense choice in Finnish follows Finnish rules, not English sequence-of-tense rules.

It can mean either she or he.

Finnish hän is a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun used for people. So from the sentence alone, hän does not tell you the person’s gender.

Context tells you whether English should use he or she.

Finnish does not have a separate grammatical future tense like English does with will.

The present tense is often used for future meaning when the context makes it clear:

• Hän tulee myöhemmin = she/he will come later

The adverb myöhemmin already points to a later time, so the sentence naturally gets a future meaning.

Sanoi is the third-person singular past tense of the verb sanoa (to say).

Basic forms:

• sanoa = to say
• sanon = I say
• sanoo = he/she says
• sanoi = he/she said

So Laura sanoi means Laura said.

Tulee is the third-person singular present tense of tulla (to come).

Basic forms:

• tulla = to come
• tulen = I come / I will come
• tulet = you come / will come
• tulee = he/she comes / will come

In this sentence, because of myöhemmin, it is understood as will come later.

Myöhemmin means later.

It is an adverb, so it describes when the coming happens.

Compare:

• nyt = now
• pian = soon
• myöhemmin = later

So:

• hän tulee myöhemmin = she/he will come later

This is a useful distinction.

• myöhemmin = later
• myöhään = late

Examples:

• Hän tulee myöhemmin. = She/He will come later.
• Hän tulee myöhään. = She/He comes late / will come late.

So myöhemmin compares one time to another: later than before / later than expected / after something else.

In standard Finnish punctuation, a comma is normally used before a subordinate clause introduced by words like että.

So this is standard:

• Laura sanoi, että hän tulee myöhemmin.

The comma helps mark the boundary between:

• the main clause: Laura sanoi
• the subordinate clause: että hän tulee myöhemmin

The word order here is the most neutral and natural one.

• Laura sanoi, että hän tulee myöhemmin.

Inside the subordinate clause, the basic order is:

• hän = subject
• tulee = verb
• myöhemmin = adverb

So it follows a straightforward pattern: subject + verb + time adverb.

Finnish word order is somewhat flexible, but this version is the normal default.

In standard written Finnish, with a sentence like this, että is normally kept.

So the standard form is:

• Laura sanoi, että hän tulee myöhemmin.

In informal speech, people may sometimes reduce or reshape reported speech, but for learners, it is best to treat että as the normal and correct choice here.

Yes, depending on context, English can translate it in slightly different ways.

Because Finnish present tense often covers both present and future meanings, hän tulee myöhemmin could be rendered as:

• she/he will come later
• she/he is coming later

The exact English wording depends on what sounds best in context. The Finnish sentence itself is completely normal.

Because tulisi would be a different mood, usually the conditional.

Compare:

• hän tulee myöhemmin = she/he will come later
• hän tulisi myöhemmin = she/he would come later

In your sentence, Laura is simply reporting a planned or expected later arrival, so the normal form is tulee, not tulisi.

Yes, and that is a very good learning strategy.

Piece by piece:

• Laura = Laura
• sanoi = said
• että = that
• hän = she/he
• tulee = comes / will come
• myöhemmin = later

So the structure is:

• [main clause] Laura said
• [subordinate clause] that she/he will come later

This is a very common Finnish sentence pattern.

Yes. It is indirect reported speech.

Instead of giving Laura’s exact words, the sentence reports their content through että.

For example:

• Direct speech: Laura sanoi: Minä tulen myöhemmin.
• Indirect speech: Laura sanoi, että hän tulee myöhemmin.

In indirect speech:

• minä often becomes hän
• the clause is introduced by että

Because Laura is the subject of the main clause and is in the basic nominative form.

• Laura sanoi = Laura said

There is no reason here to put Laura into another case. It is simply the one doing the action of saying.