Learn Finnish: Ennen näytelmää me juomme kahvia lähellä teatteria. - Before the play we drink coffee near the theater.

Ennen näytelmää me juomme kahvia lähellä teatteria.

Before the play we drink coffee near the theater.

Breakdown of Ennen näytelmää me juomme kahvia lähellä teatteria.

Questions & Answers about Ennen näytelmää me juomme kahvia lähellä teatteria.

Why do näytelmää and teatteria both end in the partitive case?

They are ruled by the prepositions ennen (before) and lähellä (near). In Finnish, these specific prepositions require the noun that follows them to be in the partitive case.

Can lähellä go after the word teatteria instead?

It can go after the noun, but then it acts as a postposition and the grammar rules change! If you put it after the noun, the noun must be in the genitive case (ending in -n). So you would say teatterin lähellä instead of lähellä teatteria. Both mean the exact same thing.

Why is kahvia also in the partitive case? Is there a hidden preposition?

No hidden prepositions here! Kahvia is in the partitive because it is the object of the verb juomme (we drink). Coffee is an uncountable mass noun, and you are drinking an unspecified amount of it (some coffee, rather than all the coffee in the world), which triggers the partitive.

How do we form the partitive of näytelmä to get näytelmää?

The dictionary form for "play" is näytelmä. Because it ends in a short vowel, you just add another vowel to make it partitive. Since the word contains the front vowels ä and y, vowel harmony dictates that we add -ä instead of -a.