sanarakennetta

Sanarakkennetta is a Finnish linguistic term that refers to the structure of words and phrases within sentences, i.e., the syntax that governs how sentences are built. It describes how different parts of speech—nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, and function words—combine to form meaningful units and how their grammatical relationships are expressed.

The study of sanarakennetta covers several aspects of sentence formation. Core elements include word order, agreement and subordination, and the use of inflection to mark role and relation. In Finnish, nouns and verbs carry rich inflection that signals case, number, tense, mood, and aspect, which in turn supports flexible word order. The typical neutral order is subject–verb–object, but variations are common for emphasis, topic focus, or stylistic reasons. Phrases such as noun phrases, verb phrases, and prepositional phrases are built according to rules that determine how modifiers and determiners attach to heads. Negation, question formation, relative clauses, and subordinate clauses are also analyzed as part of sanarakennetta.

For learners and researchers, sanarakennetta provides a framework to describe and predict how sentences are formed in Finnish and other languages with similar morphology. It underpins descriptive grammars, language teaching, translation, and natural language processing, where understanding the permissible combinations of words and the signaling of roles is essential.

Example: Mies syö omenaa. The sentence illustrates a simple subject–verb–object structure with case-marked elements enabling flexible ordering.