Questions & Answers about Tänään me olemme kahvilassa.
How do we form "in the cafe" and why is the ending -ssa instead of -ssä?
The base word for cafe is kahvila. To say "in", we add the inessive ending directly to it. Because kahvila contains the back vowel a, we must follow vowel harmony rules and use the back-vowel version of the ending, which is -ssa. This gives us kahvilassa.
Is the word kahvila related to kahvi (coffee)?
Yes! The suffix -la or -lä is frequently added to Finnish words to mean a place for something. Since kahvi means coffee, kahvila is literally a coffee place. Add -ssa onto the end, and you get "in the cafe".
Why is the verb olemme instead of just on?
The verb olla (to be) changes to match the person doing the action. Because the subject here is me (we), the verb takes the "we" ending -mme, making it me olemme (we are).
Why are there double vowels in tänään?
In Finnish, double vowels like the double ä tell you to hold the vowel sound twice as long as a single vowel. Getting the length right is very important to avoid changing the meaning of a word, so make sure to stretch out that last syllable when you say tänään.
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