Minä juon kahvia ennen kuin syön leipää.

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Breakdown of Minä juon kahvia ennen kuin syön leipää.

• syödä: to eat
• kahvi: the coffee
• leipä: the bread
• juoda: to drink
• ennen kuin: before

Questions & Answers about Minä juon kahvia ennen kuin syön leipää.

Why is kahvia in the partitive case in the sentence?

In Finnish, when referring to substances or non-specific amounts—such as coffee—the partitive case is used to indicate an incomplete or indefinite quantity. Here, kahvia implies that you’re drinking some coffee, not a completely defined portion or the entirety of something, which is why the partitive is appropriate.

What is the meaning and function of ennen kuin in this sentence?

The phrase ennen kuin means "before" and introduces a subordinate clause that indicates a temporal relationship. In this sentence, it tells you that the action of drinking coffee happens prior to the action of eating bread.

Is the subject Minä necessary in this sentence, or can it be omitted?

In Finnish, subject pronouns are often dropped because the verb endings clearly indicate the subject. Although Minä (meaning "I") is included here for clarity or emphasis, you could simply say Juon kahvia ennen kuin syön leipää without losing the meaning.

Why is leipää in the partitive case in this sentence?

Similar to kahvia, leipä takes the partitive case (becoming leipää) because it refers to an indefinite or partial amount of bread. This is common when the object is not regarded as a complete or fully bounded entity, a frequent occurrence with consumable items in Finnish.

What do the verb forms juon and syön indicate about the subject?

Both juon (from juoda) and syön (from syödä) end in -n, which is the typical first-person singular ending in Finnish. This indicates that the actions are performed by I, making the subject clear even if the pronoun Minä were omitted.

How does the word order in this Finnish sentence compare to typical English sentence structure?

Finnish word order is more flexible than English because of its rich inflectional system. In this sentence, the structure mirrors English to some extent—with the subject, verb, and object appearing in a familiar sequence—but the temporal subordinate clause (ennen kuin syön leipää) naturally follows the main clause. Additionally, since the grammatical roles are marked by cases rather than word order alone, sentences in Finnish can be rearranged to emphasize different elements without causing confusion.