Questions & Answers about Hyvää iltaa! Me olemme kotona.
Why do we say hyvää iltaa instead of hyvä ilta?
In Finnish, wishes and greetings like hyvää iltaa (good evening) or hyvää huomenta (good morning) are used in the partitive case. You are essentially wishing someone (a portion of a) good evening. If you used the basic dictionary forms (hyvä ilta), it would sound like a simple statement: "The evening is good."
What happens to the word hyvä (good) when it becomes hyvää?
Just like ilta changes to iltaa in this greeting, the adjective describing it must also match its form. So, hyvä takes a partitive ending and becomes hyvää. It takes an -ä ending rather than an -a because of Finnish vowel harmony rules.
Do I have to include the word me (we) before the verb olemme?
No, it is completely optional. In Finnish, the verb ending -mme in olemme already tells the listener that the subject is "we". You can simply say olemme kotona. Including me just adds a bit of emphasis.
The word for home is koti. Why is "at home" kotona instead of kodissa or kodilla?
While Finnish usually uses endings like -ssa (in) or -lla (at/on) to show location, "at home" is a special exception. It uses an older location ending (-na), making it kotona. As a beginner, it is easiest to just memorize kotona as a fixed, irregular word for "at home".
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