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Kirjailija juhli syntymäpäiväänsä konsertissa perjantai-iltana.

Kirjailija juhli syntymäpäiväänsä konsertissa perjantai-iltana.
The author celebrated his birthday at a concert on Friday evening.
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Questions & Answers about Kirjailija juhli syntymäpäiväänsä konsertissa perjantai-iltana.

Why is there no the or a in front of Kirjailija?
Finnish has no articles. Nouns appear without a/an or the. Context and word order tell you whether you mean “a writer” or “the writer.”
What tense and person is juhli, and how is it formed?

juhli is the 3rd person singular imperfect (simple past) of juhlia (“to celebrate”). Formation:

  1. Take the verb stem juhl- (drop the -ia).
  2. Add the imperfect marker -i- → juhl-i-.
  3. Add the 3 sg ending -∅ (zero) → juhli (“he/she celebrated”).
Can you break syntymäpäiväänsä into its parts and explain each?

Certainly:
• syntymäpäivä = “birthday” (root + linking vowel)
• -än = illative case marker (≈ “into” or “to”)
• -sä = 3rd person reflexive possessive suffix (≈ “his/her own”)
Altogether syntymäpäiväänsä means literally “into his/her own birthday,” i.e. “celebrated his/her birthday.”

Why is syntymäpäiväänsä in the illative case and not in the partitive?

You can actually say both:

  • juhlia syntymäpäivää (partitive) = “to celebrate [a/the] birthday.”
  • juhlia syntymäpäiväänsä (illative + possessive) is the common idiom for “to celebrate one’s own birthday.”
    The illative -än here marks the event as the target of the celebration.
What does the suffix -nsä (written -sä after a vowel) do?

That is the 3rd person reflexive possessive. It attaches to the noun (after the case ending) to show that the object belongs to the subject.
Example: syntymäpäivään + -sä → syntymäpäiväänsä (“his/her own birthday”).

Why is konsertissa in the inessive case (-ssa) and what does it mean?
Inessive -ssa indicates location “in”/“at”. So konsertissa = “at the concert.” It tells you where the action took place.
Why is it -ssa in konsertissa instead of -ssä?
Finnish uses vowel harmony. The stem konsertti contains the back vowel o (and neutral e, i), so it takes back‐vowel suffixes -a/-o/-u. Hence -ssa (not -ssä, which pairs with only front vowels ä/ö/y).
Why is perjantai-iltana in the essive case (-na), and how does that translate?

Essive -na can mark time expressions meaning “on [some time].”
• perjantai-iltana = “on Friday evening.”
It tells you when the celebration happened.