Learn Hardcore Finnish: Kurssi alkaa perjantai-iltana, mikä sopii perheelleni. - The course starts on Friday evening, which suits my family.

perjantai-iltana is in the essive case (marked by -na/-nä). In Finnish, the essive is used to express when something happens at a specific point in time. So kurssi alkaa perjantai-iltana means “the course starts on Friday evening.”

Why do we say perjantai-iltana instead of perjantai-illalla or perjantaina illalla?

All three are grammatically correct, but there’s a nuance:

perjantai-iltana (one word, essive) is a fixed expression for a specific time (“on Friday evening”).
perjantaina illalla splits weekday (essive -na) and time-of-day (adessive -lla): “on Friday in the evening.”
perjantai-illalla (hyphenated/adessive) is more general “during Friday evening.”
Learners will see both patterns; perjantai-iltana is very common for pinpointing the exact time.

Why isn't there a personal pronoun before alkaa? For example, why not Se kurssi alkaa...?

Finnish is a pro-drop language: the subject pronoun can be omitted because the verb ending -aa in alkaa already indicates 3rd person singular. Kurssi alkaa (“the course starts”) is complete and normal without se.

What is the function of mikä in …, mikä sopii perheelleni?

Here mikä is a relative pronoun that refers back to the entire preceding clause “Kurssi alkaa perjantai-iltana”. It introduces a non-restrictive relative clause—just like English which in “...which suits my family.”

Why do we use mikä instead of joka?

joka refers back to a specific noun (e.g. kurssi). But mikä can refer to an abstract idea or the whole clause (the fact that the course starts on Friday evening). That’s why mikä is the correct choice here.

Why is there a comma before mikä?

In Finnish, non-restrictive relative clauses (adding extra information) are set off by a comma, marking the boundary between the main clause and the relative clause.

What case does the verb sopia require for the person it suits, and how does perheelleni reflect that?

sopia takes the allative case (-lle) to indicate to whom something suits. perheelleni = perhe + -lle (“to family”) + -ni (“my”), so it literally means “to my family,” i.e. “suits my family.”

Could we say minun perheelleni instead of perheelleni?

Yes, but it’s redundant. Finnish normally shows possession with a suffix (here -ni) rather than a separate pronoun (minun). You’d typically stick with perheelleni.

Why is the verb alkaa used here instead of aloittaa?

alkaa is intransitive: the subject undergoes the action (“the course begins”). aloittaa is transitive: someone must start something else (e.g. “the teacher starts the course”). Since the course itself is “beginning,” we use alkaa.