Breakdown of Menemme illalla isoäidin luo.
ilta
evening
mennä
to go
isoäiti
grandmother
luo
(to) someone's place, up to (someone)
Questions & Answers about Menemme illalla isoäidin luo.
Why is it isoäidin luo instead of just isoäiti luo?
The word luo is a postposition meaning "to someone's place". In Finnish, postpositions almost always require the word before them to be in the genitive case, which is why isoäiti gets the -n ending to become isoäidin.
Why does illalla have the -lla ending here?
Parts of the day usually take the adessive case (-lla or -llä) to express when something happens. So ilta (evening) becomes illalla (in the evening). Notice the consonant gradation where the strong -lt- changes to the weak -ll-.
If we changed this sentence to say "They are going" instead of "We are going", how would that look using the spoken Finnish rules from this lesson?
You would say Ne menee illalla isoäidin luo. In everyday spoken Finnish, the pronoun ne is used for "they" instead of the formal he, and it pairs with the singular verb form menee rather than the plural menevät.
How would the original "we go" part of this sentence sound in everyday spoken Finnish?
In spoken Finnish, the first-person plural (menemme) is almost always replaced by the passive form. You would typically hear me mennään instead of (me) menemme.