Eilen söin päivällisen kotona, ja se oli herkullista.

Yesterday I ate dinner at home, and it was delicious.

Breakdown of Eilen söin päivällisen kotona, ja se oli herkullista.

• minä: I
• olla: to be
• kotona: at home
• ja: and
• syödä: to eat
• herkullinen: delicious
• se: it
• eilen: yesterday
• päivällinen: the dinner

Questions & Answers about Eilen söin päivällisen kotona, ja se oli herkullista.

What does Eilen mean in this sentence?

Eilen means yesterday. It sets the time reference, indicating that the action took place the day before.

Why is there no explicit subject pronoun before söin?

In Finnish, the verb form often encodes the subject. The form söin (from syödä meaning “to eat”) is conjugated for first-person singular, so it already means “I ate,” making it unnecessary to explicitly state the subject.

What is the form and meaning of söin?

Söin is the first-person singular past tense form of syödä (“to eat”). It translates as “I ate,” indicating a completed action in the past.

Why is päivällisen used in the sentence and what case is it in?

Päivällisen means “dinner” and appears as the definite object of the verb. In Finnish, a definite object in a past tense action typically takes the accusative form, marked here by the ending -n.

What does kotona represent in this sentence?

Kotona is an adverbial expression meaning “at home.” It tells you where the action (eating dinner) took place and is a fixed form used in everyday Finnish.

Why does the adjective herkullista appear in its form rather than as herkullinen?

In Finnish predicate constructions, especially when describing the quality of food, adjectives often appear in the partitive form rather than the nominative. Herkullista conveys that the dinner was delicious in a quality sense rather than making an absolute statement.

What is the function of the pronoun se in the second clause?

Se refers back to päivällisen in the previous clause. It functions as a substitute for the noun “dinner,” helping to avoid repetition while maintaining clarity in what is being described as delicious.