Uskon, että hän tulee.

he/she

Breakdown of Uskon, että hän tulee.

• tulla: to come
• että: that (clause)
• uskoa: to believe

Questions & Answers about Uskon, että hän tulee.

What does uskon mean here, and what form is it?

Uskon is the 1st person singular present tense of uskoa, which means to believe.

So:

• uskoa = to believe
• uskon = I believe

Finnish verbs change according to the subject, so the ending -n tells you the subject is I. Because of that, Finnish often leaves out the pronoun minä (I).

So:

• Minä uskon = I believe
• Uskon = I believe

Both are correct, but leaving out minä is very common.

What does että mean, and do I need it?

Että means that.

In this sentence, it introduces a subordinate clause:

• Uskon = I believe
• että hän tulee = that he/she is coming / that he/she will come

So the full structure is:

• Uskon, että hän tulee.
• I believe that he/she is coming / will come.

In English, that is often optional:

• I believe that she is coming
• I believe she is coming

In Finnish, että is much more normal and usually should be included in this kind of sentence.