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sillä. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
sillä, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
sillä in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Finnish
Pronunciation
Pronoun
sillä
- (demonstrative) adessive singular of se
Sillä koiralla on isot korvat.- That dog has big ears.
Conjunction
sillä
- (coordinating) for, since, because
Jään kotiin, sillä olen sairas.- I'll stay at home because I am sick.
Tiedän, että huomenna sataa, sillä niin kerrottiin televisiossa.- I know it will rain tomorrow because that was told on television.
Usage notes
- As an explanative conjunction, sillä may be seen as roughly synonymous with the causal conjunction koska.
- The words are not always interchangeable, and koska can appear in positions where sillä cannot. For example, unlike koska, sillä cannot begin a sentence-initial subordinate clause:
- Koska tänään on maanantai, taidemuseo on suljettu. (grammatical)
- ×Sillä tänään on sunnuntai, taidemuseo on suljettu. (ungrammatical)
- In terms of nuance, it can be argued that koska implies a stronger causal link than sillä, with the latter instead used to e.g. justify an inference:
- Huomenna sataa, sillä niin sanottiin televisiossa. ― It will rain tomorrow because that was told on television. (Nuance: I assume it'll rain tomorrow, based on the fact that the television weather forecast said so.)
- Huomenna sataa, koska niin sanottiin televisiossa. ― It will rain tomorrow because that was told on television. (Nuance: the fact that they said it will rain tomorrow on television is the reason it will rain tomorrow.)
Adverb
sillä
- for that reason or intention, because
Sillähän minä tätä ehdotin, ettei meidän tarvitsisi enää riidellä.- I suggested this for the reason that we wouldn't have to fight anymore, alright.
Menin eilen pihalle sillä, että tapaisin muita ihmisiä.- I went outside yesterday for the intention of meeting other people.
See also
Further reading
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