Iltapäivällä haluan syödä lounaan ystäväni kanssa.

my

Breakdown of Iltapäivällä haluan syödä lounaan ystäväni kanssa.

• ystävä: the friend
• syödä: to eat
• haluta: to want
• -llä: on
• iltapäivä: the afternoon
• lounas: the lunch
• kanssa: with

Questions & Answers about Iltapäivällä haluan syödä lounaan ystäväni kanssa.

What does iltapäivällä mean and why does it have the -llä ending?

It means in the afternoon. The -llä ending is the adessive case in Finnish, which is used to express where or when something occurs. In time expressions like this, the adessive helps indicate the specific period during which the action takes place.

What tense and verb forms are used in haluan syödä?

Haluan is the first-person singular present tense form of the verb haluta (to want). Syödä is the infinitive form of the verb meaning to eat. Together, haluan syödä translates as I want to eat.

Why is lounaan not used in its base form lounas, and what does its ending indicate?

Lounaan appears in the accusative form, which for many nouns is identical to the genitive singular form. In this context, it denotes a complete and definite object—here, a specific lunch that is intended to be fully eaten.

How is possession expressed in the word ystäväni?

The base noun ystävä means friend, and the suffix -ni indicates possession. Attaching -ni transforms it into ystäväni, meaning my friend. Finnish uses these possessive suffixes instead of separate possessive words.

What role does kanssa play in the sentence?

Kanssa is a postposition that means with. It follows the noun it modifies—in this case, ystäväni—to form the phrase with my friend. This structure is standard in Finnish, where postpositions always come after their associated noun.

Is the word order in this sentence fixed or flexible, and why is that helpful?

Finnish word order is relatively flexible because the roles of the words are clear from their case endings. Although iltapäivällä appears first to emphasize the time, rearranging the elements (while keeping the correct cases) wouldn’t obscure the meaning. This flexibility lets speakers adjust emphasis and style without losing grammatical clarity.